Technological progress and efficiency change In Hungarian Agriculture

Hungary became the member of European Union in 2004. The authors want to show that, though, many sectors of Hungarian agriculture have been operating at low level of technology and efficiency; there was a big expectation about the fast catching up with accession to European Union. This paper investigates the effect of EU membership on the productivity performance of Hungarian agriculture based on the years 2005 and 2009 using Data Envelopment Analyses and Malmquist index. The analysis showed that there were considerable reserves of efficiency in the presented two main branches (wheat and pig fattening) of the Hungarian agriculture, and the reserves slightly decreased in wheat production, but they increased in the pig sector by EU accession. The implication for agricultural reform of future productivity growth has also been assessed.