Czech Supreme Audit Office questions 3.29 billion CZK agricultural research spending

The Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) has raised concerns regarding the effectiveness of 3.29 billion CZK spent by the Ministry of Agriculture on applied research between 2017 and 2025. The audit focused on the ZEMĚ program, which aimed to support innovation in agriculture, food, water management, and forestry to boost the competitiveness of the Czech agricultural sector.

Auditors found that the Ministry set goals that were too general, making it impossible to determine the actual impact of the supported projects. A significant issue identified was the method of evaluating success; the Ministry often considered a project successful if it met planned outputs, such as publishing academic articles, rather than verifying if the research results were actually implemented in agricultural practice.

In one notable instance, a project predicted that new wheat varieties would be grown on 20,000 hectares, but actual usage reached only 20 hectares for one variety, while the other saw no commercial use at all. Additionally, the audit revealed inaccuracies in the Information System for Research, Development, and Innovation (IS VaVaI), where 13% of recorded results were found to be incorrect. The NKÚ also identified potential breaches of budgetary discipline in four out of 14 audited projects, involving the inclusion of ineligible expenses.