Soil as an Irreplaceable Production Factor Under Conditions of Slovak Republic

Abstract

The economic theory distinguishes mainly three production factors, namely labour, soil, and capital. Soil, as a product of nature, is not a free good – its amount is not unlimited. It can be used for agricultural purposes, as energy and non-energy source, and for minerals. Soil is one of the factors of production and at the same time the most important natural resource. We have used three indicators, namely the degree of plowing, the degree of agricultural use and area of agricultural and arable land per capita. The result of the work was the finding that in the observed period (10 years), the area of agricultural and arable land in Slovakia is decreasing. To improve the situation in agriculture, the following could be done: merging fragmented land into larger units, changes in the system of inheritance or a change in allocation of subsidies. Especially the inhabitants of the territory should support the state buy buying on the domestic market and supporting domestic production.