Archive:Structure of agriculture in Croatia

Data from September 2013. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents some statistics from the most recent farm structure survey (FSS) that was conducted in Croatia in 2010. On 1 July 2013, Croatia became the 28th and latest Member State to join the European Union (EU). This special focus throws the spotlight on structural aspects of agriculture in the newest Member State.

Once every 10 years an agricultural census is conducted in the EU, with intermediate sample surveys (farm structure surveys) carried out two or three times between two censuses. These censuses and intermediate surveys collect a range of information about agricultural holdings (farms), covering land use, farm management, the farm labour force and livestock numbers, as well as issues related to rural development. Ahead of its accession to the EU, Croatia conducted both a 2007 farm structure survey (FSS) and a 2010 survey. Unlike the EU-27 Member States, for whom the farm structure survey in 2010 was carried out as a census, Croatia carried out a sample survey; this article presents some selected results.

Main statistical findings

Agricultural holdings

Croatia had 233 280 agricultural holdings (or farms) in 2010, working 1.3 million hectares of land (the utilised agricultural area). This compared with 12.0 million agricultural holdings across the EU-27 working 172.8 million hectares in 2010 (see Table 1). A small majority (54.4 %) of farmland in Croatia was worked by the owner in 2010, the remainder (45.6 %) being worked by tenant farmers.

Farms in Croatia can be characterised as being relatively small: the average size of 5.6 hectares per holding in 2010 was considerably less than the average of 14.4 hectares per holding across the whole of the EU-27. Indeed, about one half (52.5 %) of all holdings in Croatia were less than 2 hectares in size, with the vast majority (89.4 %) being less than 10 hectares in size (see Figure 1).

Agricultural land use

A little less than one quarter (23.3 %) of the total land area of Croatia was farmland in 2010. This was a relatively low share; it was only higher than the shares recorded in four other EU Member States (Sweden, Finland, Cyprus and Estonia) and represented about three fifths of the EU-27 average (40.0 %).

A little over two thirds (68.0 %) of the land used for farming (the utilised agricultural area) in Croatia was classed as arable land. Of the 895 220 hectares of arable land in 2010 about two thirds (65.0 %) was given over to cereals, of which a majority (310 450 hectares) was land under grain maize production. These relative shares were higher than the EU-27 average (see Figure 2). By contrast, the proportion of farmland used as permanent grassland and meadow in Croatia (25.8 %) was much lower than the EU-27 average (34.0 %) in 2010.

Farm typology

The general make-up of the agricultural sector in terms of farm types was also somewhat different in Croatia when compared with the EU-27 (see Figure 3). A little over one in every five (22.6 %) holdings in Croatia was classified as being a mixed crop and livestock farm in 2010, compared with about one in every eight (12.6 %) farms in the EU-27. There was also a higher relative share of agricultural holdings classified as mixed cropping farms in Croatia (10.3 % compared with 4.2 % for the EU-27). By contrast, the proportion of holdings classified as specialist field crops farms (with cereals, oilseeds and/or protein crops) and specialist permanent crop farms (with vineyards, orchards and olive groves) in Croatia was lower than across the EU-27 (18.2 % and 14.6 % compared with 25.0 % and 20.2 % respectively).

Even though holdings classified as being specialist grazing livestock farms (with dairy cows, cattle, sheep or other ruminants) accounted for only 16.1 % of holdings in Croatia in 2010, they were estimated to have generated one third (33.4 %) of the standard output (an average monetary value used to provide an economic dimension). This was a much higher share of standard output than the average from specialist grazing livestock farms across the whole of the EU-27 (26.5 %). Likewise, the share of economic output generated by mixed crop and livestock farms in Croatia (14.9 %) was much higher than the average across the EU-27 (8.3 %), in part reflecting the much higher proportion of holdings classified as mixed crop-livestock farms. By contrast, the proportion of economic output generated by specialist granivore farms (with pigs or poultry), specialist permanent crop farms and specialist horticulture farms in Croatia was much lower (10.5 %, 8.4 % and 2.0 % respectively) than on average (17.9 %, 13.5 % and 9.6 % respectively) across the EU-27 in 2010 (see Figure 4).

A little over two thirds (67.0 %) of the agricultural output of Croatia in 2010 came from specialist grazing farms, specialist field crop farms and mixed-crop livestock holdings, which was a much higher proportion than the EU-27 average (52.6 %), where specialist granivore farms (with pigs or poultry) and specialist permanent crop farms accounted for a higher share of economic output.

Data sources and availability

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Notes

[[Category:<Agriculture>|Structure of agriculture in Croatia]] [[Category:<Statistical article>|Structure of agriculture in Croatia]]