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TheImportanceofImprovingIncentivesandEmploymentOpportunities…
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Withthetransformationin1999,conditionsinagriculturerapidlydeteriorated.
Largestatefarmswereclosed,displacingthevastmajorityoftheworkers.Itwas
thiscollapseofstatefarmsthataccountsforthemajorityofthedeclineinfarm
labourinthe1990s(Dries,Swinnen2001).Bycontrast,privatefarmemployment
wasstableinmostpartsofthecountryandexpandedinotherparts,notbecause
thesefarmswereprosperous,butbecausetheyweretheleastbadalternativefor
peoplewithfarmconnectionswhohadlosttheirjobsinothersectors.
Somewhatsurprisingly,manyofthesesmallfarmsreducedtheirdegreeofenga-
gementwithmarketsatthistime(Chloupkova2002;Halamska2016).Giventhat
therewasalargereductioninoff-farmemploymentandincomeintheperiod,
theseeminglymorelikelybehaviourwouldhavebeentotrytoexpandmarketsales
torestoresomeportionoflostoff-farmearnings.However,ashifttosmallershare
offarmoutputbeingsoldcanbeexplainedbyfourfactors.Thefirstwastherapid
dropinfoodprices,ascheapimportsfromWesternEuropedrovedownprices,which
reducedthereturnandsalesvolumeforPolishfarms.Thesecondwastheincreasing
difficultymoreremotefarmshadingettingtheiroutputtourbanmarketsastransport
costsincreasedandnewmarketchannelswerecreatedthatweredifficultforsmall
producerstopenetrate.Thethirdwastheincreaseinfarmhouseholdsizeasfamily
membersmovedbacktothefarmtherebyincreasinghouseholdfoodneeds,which
increasedtheshareofproductiongoingtoself-supply.Finally,withafallintotal
farmincomeandincreasesinthecostofpurchasedinputs,smallfarmsexperienced
increasedcostsofproduction,leadingtosomefarmsreducinglevelsofoutput,which
wouldhavegiventhemlesssurplusoutputtosell.Thus,theshareofsmallfarmsthat
wereorientedtothemarketwassignificantlyreducedinthe1990s,whichinturn
createdpressureforgovernmenttoincreasetransferpaymentstothesefarmsto
maintainaminimumstandardoflivingandpoliticalstability.
Overaquarterofthecenturylater,whilethesituationoffarmworkershas
improvedonaverage,itremainsprecariousformanywhoarecurrently,orwere
formerlyemployedinfarming.Someoftheworstoffareformerfull-timeworkersat
thelargestateandcooperativefarms,manyofwhomremainunemployedandwhose
childrencanalsoremainunemployedinacycleofpersistentpoverty(Tarkowska
2008).Theseindividualslackboththeskillsneededtogainemployment,and
adequateaccesstojobopportunities.Thelatterreflectsboththeirremotelocation,
farfromactivelabourmarkets,aswellasthelimiteddemandanywhereinPoland
forpeoplewithlowskills,whichlimitsanybenefitsfromthemmovingtoanother
location.
Thenumberofverysmallprivatefarms(lessthan5hectares)hasslowlydec-
linedovertime,butatafarlowerratethanwasexpectedattheendofthe1990s.
Thiscanbeexplainedbytheabsenceofacompellingreasonforfarmhouseholds
WieśiRolnictwo3(176)/2017
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