Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Central and Eastern Europe Subsistence Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe: How to Break the Vicious Circle? edited by Steffen Abele and Klaus Frohberg Subsistence Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe: How to Break the Vicious Circle? Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Central and Eastern Europe Edited by Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe IAMO Volume 22 Subsistence Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe: How to Break the Vicious Circle? Edited by Steffen Abele and Klaus Frohberg IAMO 2003 Bibliografische Information Der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists the publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the internet at: http://dnb.ddb.de. © 2003 Institut für Agrarentwicklung in Mittel- und Osteuropa (IAMO) Theodor-Lieser-Straße 2 062120 Halle (Saale) Tel. 49 (345) 2928-0 Fax 49 (345) 2928-199 e-mail:
[email protected] http://www.iamo.de ISSN 1436-221X ISBN 3-9809270-2-4 INTRODUCTION STEFFEN ABELE, KLAUS FROHBERG Subsistence agriculture is probably the least understood and the most neglected type of agriculture. In a globalised, market-driven world, it remains at the same time a myth and a marginal phenomenon. Empirically, subsistence agriculture for a long time seemed to be restricted to developing countries, with only a few cases reported in Western Europe (CAILLAVET and NICHELE 1999; THIEDE 1994). Governmental support offered to subsistence agriculture was mainly done through agricultural development policies, the main objective being to have subsistence farmers participate in markets.