The role of systems and evolutionary approaches to agricultural and rural policy measures: lessons from Lithuania

The article discusses the need of holistic theoretical approaches dealing with the coordination of agrarian and rural policy measures in the countries with different economic and social situation. Lithuania, like the other new EU Member States, faced with the problem of the compatibility of the Common Agricultural Policy and national objectives as perceived by the farmers and agricultural policy makers. The research provides an analysis of the main challenges and evaluates the impact of the EU agrarian policy measures on the development of the agrarian sector during the decade of Lithuania’s membership in the EU. The achievements of agriculture in Lithuania are examined in the context of three evolutionary stages of governmental support to agriculture and rural development with respect to the main objectives of the EU agricultural policy: improvement of productivity, promotion of competitiveness, and sustainable development. The use of systems and evolutionary approaches in the analysis of ideas and measures of agrarian and rural policy helps to reveal new aspects that are important in the search for ways to improve the policy objectives and targets selecting specific support measures and assessing the impact of policy decisions.