The Impact of Public R&D Supports on the Increase of Agricultural Productivity: The Case of the EU Member Transition Economies

Physical, environmental and political events in the world, increase the importance of the agricultural sector. Developing countries, as well as developed countries, implement a number of policies to increase agricultural production and productivity. One of these policies is agricultural R&D activities. In this study, the effect of publicly supported agricultural R&D expenditures on agricultural productivity was analyzed. Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, which are called transition economies and became a member of the European Union in 2004, were included in the analysis. In the study covering the period between 2005 and 2016, it was concluded that public R&D expenditures for agricultural production had a partial positive effect on agricultural productivity.