THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Abstract

The rural development policy of the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury in Poland (APS) is conducted by The Agricultural Property Agency – APA (since 1.09.2017 – The National Centre for Agriculture Support). The property managed by the APA includes agricultural land, forests, farm buildings, residential buildings as well as equipment and devices that are part of the social, technical, production, commercial and service infrastructure. The aim of research was to proof the influence of the gratuitous transfer of land from the APS to local government units, to engage them in social activities. The main methods used for it were: the analyse of legal acts in Poland, the analyse of reports and statistic data from APA and method of cartographic presentation – quantitative, cartogram.
This article focuses on the social aspects of the APA’s operations, based on an analysis of the data supplied by the Regional Branch of the Agricultural Property Agency in Olsztyn. The results of the analyses were presented in table format. The rural development policy concerning the performance of public purposes in rural areas was analysed. The obtained information and materials were analysed to identify social investments carried out on agricultural land donated to local authorities from Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury. The results were used to analyse and describe the social aspects of the APA’s operations in rural area in Poland. Rural areas require various types of social assistance services. The Agricultural Property Agency has successfully fostered social development in rural areas, and it has the required resources and experience to continue that mission. 

Keywords: Agricultural Property Agency, agricultural land, social aspects of managing rural areas, rural development policy

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.153