Labour and capital productivity are essential conditions of competitive production. After accession to the European Union, conditions of competition in agriculture in the Central and Eastern European countries have changed. It is a great challenge for the producers to hold against the competitors with a higher productivity, even on their own former markets. Based on the partial efficiency theory, the study analyses the productivity of the region’s agriculture and its response to the new market challenges as well as messages given by the development subsidies to the farmers from the aspects of productivity and real investments.

Keywords: partial efficiency, competitiveness, agriculture, Central and Eastern European countries, technical development