Determinanty zmian strukturalnych gospodarki żywnościowej w Polsce

Abstract

The study makes an attempt to designate the directions of the structural changes in the food economy at the stage of its "marketization", as well as the economic determinants of such changes. A theoretic and empiric analysis demonstrated that the Polish food economy is characterized by the traditional, low-efficiency branch structure which creates serious obstacles to an adaptation to the requirements of the modern market. Agriculture requires particularly profound and diversified structural transformations such as the reduction of employment and the growth of labour productivity and, consequently, improvements in the economic standing and in the competitive force on the market. The foregoing requires productivity-oriented structural and systemic changes in the economic environment of agriculture, particularly in medium— and small-sized food industries, industries manufacturing production means for agriculture and in food industry, as well as in the social and economic infrastructure of the countryside. The processes of structural transformation of the food economy should be supported by state intervention policies. The main directions of the structural intervention are the creation of favourable administrative and legal conditions and an economic support for any operators creating additional jobs and sources of income for the farming population.