Those living on (semi-) subsistence farming are especially prone to low productivity, low income and vulnerable livelihoods. The rural economy often cannot sufficiently support rural livelihoods. Nevertheless, regarding the agricultural sector and rural livelihoods, many of them still display a tremendous disparity compared to the EU15. The New Member States (NMS) of the European Union (EU) have already undergone substantial sector restructuring and socio-economic transformation. Thus, rural spaces are increasingly designed around alternative agricultural activities and various new industrial, commercial, tourism and leisure undertakings, driving changes in rural identities and lifestyles. They include, for example, demographic changes (rapid ageing of the rural population) “excess” workforce and the abandonment of agricultural activities land use transformation, resting mainly in the decreasing proportion of agricultural land or processes of economic diversification.
#Read fire force 253 series#
Since then, rural areas in CEESs have been undergoing a series of dynamic changes. Meanwhile, in Poland (similarly to other post-socialist countries), a monofunctional economy model with the dominance of the agricultural sector existed until the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s (the beginning of the economic transformation). Hence the research on finding new sources of rural livelihood is particularly established there.
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The process of farm diversification in Western European countries has been going on for several decades. The future of rural areas in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) is an important issue due to their size, high dependence on agriculture, low farm labour productivity and profitability. In turn, the beneficiaries from the areas where farms are smaller and economically weaker often undertake activities related to setting up a new business (outside farming). Thus, they create additional livelihood of income and workplaces for household members. In the areas where agriculture is deeply rooted, beneficiaries were more willing to engage in ventures tapping into the resources available in their farms. The beneficiaries’ activity depended on the local potential (resources), culture and tradition of the region, and size and potential of the farm. The attractiveness of the two studied RDP measures varied across regions. Access to the EU funds (RDP) has considerably enlarged the opportunities for accelerating agricultural modernisation and restructuration towards multifunctional development, as well as the opportunities for implementing new development and work methods in the countryside in Poland. They are also used to determine the mutual relations between the two analyzed activities in terms of the spatial scales used. To determine the relationship between the RDP measures and the selected groups of conditions, a synthetic index and a correlation index are used. A set of conditions was prepared for all LAU1 units, forming the background for assessing the impact of the EU funds on the development of non-agricultural activities.
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The analysis covers all the projects implemented in Poland under the two measures of Axis 3 of the RDP 2007–2013. The research’s spatial scope covers Poland’s territory on two spatial scales: the system of regions (16 NUTS2 units) and poviats (314 LAU level 1 units). Models of a policy of multifunctional rural development, implemented after accession to the EU, are presented.
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The study and the discussion are presented from a geographical perspective and, in a broader context, take into account several conditions (natural, urban, agricultural and historical) and the spatial diversity of the allocation of European Union (EU) funds. The analysis covered two measures from Axis 3, Improvement of the quality of life in rural areas and diversification of rural economy: M311, diversification into non-agricultural activities and M312, Establishment and development of micro-enterprise. This programme is dedicated to the diversification of business activities in rural areas and rural livelihood and, thus, the improvement of the multifunctionality of rural areas. The paper’s main aim is to assess the measures implemented within the Rural Development Program (RDP) 2007–2013 in Poland.