The work presents results of a study conducted in 2009 and involving farmers who owned farms of up to 10 hectare located in 2 communes (gminas). The first commune is typically rural (in the Lubelskie Voivodeship) and the other is a multi-function commune. The farmers interviewed in both gminas,...

For the countries of the Central Europe, the regional policy measures which concentrate on the maintenance of the small and medium sized producer’s units and are trying to find solutions to the worsening negative circumstances for the family farms (in the EU-12, 68.5% of farms are regarded as...

With over a billion people in Africa, the issue of agricultural development and food security is extremely important. The paper investigates the historical engagement of China in the economic cooperation with Africa, as well as the Chinese and African alimentary needs leading to enhanced...

This paper analyses the position of LDCs in world trade in food and agricultural commodities since 2000. The main trend in the development of international trade in the period after World War II was a decline in the share of agricultural products from the least developed countries. But still for...

The aim of the paper is to determine the role of human capital quality of local authorities in the local socio-economic development. The research was carried out in Warmia and Mazury Province in 2008. A synthetic socio-economic development Hellwig index was calculated for all urban-rural and...

Authors define and explain the meaning of two concepts, namely human and social capital and their influence on the socio-economic progress in agriculture and rural areas. The presented studies and analyses point to the link between the growing role of these two factors and the general...

The role of endogenous factors of rural areas development has been discussed. The concept of cultural heritage, especially its spiritual and material character, has been referred to. The startup role of regions’ social capital and its use in the transition process has been underlined. The need...

The significance of bee families as pollinators for agriculture was presented on example of the Mazovia province. The changes in the needs of pollination of the main plants cultivated in this region in 2000-2009 were analyzed. The value of yields as a result of pollination and the losses of...

The awareness of animal welfare and animal well-being is growing all over Europe and the world. The concerns are related to the applied policy regimes, economic sustainability of the production methods, food quality and safety, consumers’ health and behaviour and their willingness to pay for...

The aim of this article was to show the best experiences of agri-environmental programme in the EU countries with particular regard paid to the agri-environmental programme which was realized in Poland in years 2004-2006. The data were taken from the Agency for Agriculture Restructuring and...