Being a member of the EU, today the Czech Republic is not entirely dependent on domestic production of food and farming commodities. Since borders inside the EU are open, particular commodities can flow without any tariff measures. But food self-sufficiency belongs to internal factors of national security and therefore it deserves sufficient attention. The aim of this article is to evaluate, based on an analysis, the self-sufficiency rate of the Czech Republic and Poland in selected commodities of crop production between marketing years 2000/2001–2009/2010, with special attention to the most important and cultivated commodities – basic cereals, oilseeds, corn and potatoes. Based on analyses of self-sufficiency rate it can be concluded, that both countries can be considered as stabilised with restpect to rate of self-sufficency of selected crops – none of the presented groups falls under 80%. For most described commodities the trend of self-sufficiency rate in the Czech Republic and Poland is stabilised or growing. Only production of potatoes is coming close to critical treshhold in CZ, therefore national strategies should be put in place to maintain the self-sufficiency rate above the critical limit. After an analysis of internation trade it can be concluded that the Czech Republic is specialised exporter of not-processed commodities but country significantly falls behind Poland in competitiveness of processing of commodities.
Food Self Sufficiency in Selected Crops in the Czech Republic and Poland