Efficiency and productivity of the Slovak agricultural investment support beneficiaries

In this paper we estimate the effects of the farm investment support provided under the Rural Development Program (RDP) on efficiency and productivity of the Slovak farms. We used panel data of 631 Slovak farms over 2007-2013 RDP SR programming period. The overall effects of investment support on farm efficiency and productivity we estimated by non-parametric method Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), using output-oriented CCR and BCC models. Total factor productivity changes were estimated by Malmquist indices and their decomposition. We found, that productivity of both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the investment support slightly decreased over time. This decline could be mostly attributed to technological regression. On average, the farms, nonbeneficiaries of investment support, were more technically efficient than beneficiaries. Investment support however, enabled beneficiaries specialised on crop production significantly improve their performance towards the best farms. The investment support provided under the RDP should be more targeted towards smaller farms with low capital endowment.