Evaluation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Operating in Short Supply Chains Within Slovak School Programmes

Abstract

Abstract Despite of reduction of its share on the gross domestic product, agriculture remains a branch generating job opportunities in rural areas. However, through more intensive farming procedures, it puts a pressure on environment and sustainability of agricultural production and prolongs the distance of distributed goods. Reduction of the mentioned impacts is possible through shortening the food supply chain subsequently resulting in increase of local sale, demand for local services and increase of labour market, putting an emphasis on support of small and medium – sized enterprises and their economic viability improvement. This paper evaluates the performance of small and medium enterprises and micro-enterprises which applied for the support and supplied and distributed fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products to kindergartens and primary schools within the School Fruits and Vegetables and the School Milk programme. We suppose that through supplying local schools they contributed to the food supply chain shortening.