The years spent by the Czech Republic in the EU deprived the country of food independence

The Czech Republic's self-sufficiency in food products does not allow the country to talk about food security. This was stated at a press conference by representatives of the Czech Agricultural Union.

According to their information, self-sufficiency in vegetable production in the period from 1992 to 2020 decreased from 67 to 31%. Self-sufficiency in the production of pork and poultry meat is also decreasing, which increases the need for food imports. The head of the union, Martin Pyha, noted that Czech farmers could produce pork or poultry meat themselves, which would reduce the carbon footprint of food imports from abroad.

"Until about 1989, we were completely self-sufficient in pork production. Now the country provides itself with only 46%, although our farmers can produce more, and the quality of their pork is recognized all over the world. It doesn't make sense to import pork from Spain and poultry from Brazil when we can produce these products ourselves," he said.

In addition, it was noted that the volume of food imports to the Czech Republic is growing, except for minor fluctuations since the 1990s. For example, last year the Czech Republic imported 61.6 million kg of apples, 60 million kg of onions, 281 million kg of pork and 120 million kg of poultry. Pyha explains the high volume of imports and the reduction in self-sufficiency by unequal conditions for producers in the EU and consumers' focus on low prices.

Recall that the Czech Republic is a member of EU since 2004. Within the framework of the Union, the country is obliged to comply with a number of norms restricting the development of the agro-industrial complex.