Agriculture as a Strategic Sector for the Purpose of Development of the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

In a time when the influence of the crisis is extremely strong and affects all segments of the society, it is necessary to recognize the importance of Croatian agriculture as an industry. It is necessary to put Croatian agriculture at a level of strategic branch of industry and act accordingly. Accessible data show that agriculture and food industry are proportionally important for Croatian economy since they contribute more than 9%, to the overall GDP, more that 11%, to the overall export and import and more than 20% to overall employment. Data has been selected by a simple random sampling ranging from year 2009 through 2013. Significant impact of this paper is by using natural resources in a sustainable way Croatian agriculture has a possibility to place itself on the market as a country of top quality food, and as such also as a very healthy country where healthy food is becoming more and more important within global market relations. In order to develop agriculture, it is necessary to change the public perception, according to which farmers are considered to be a burden to the society, and it is necessary to take action regarding the tax reform (reduce VAT on food), allocate subsidies in a more fair way and seriously tackle the branding and geographical tagging of produce.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p634