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ISSN 1232-9541
Traditional recipes
Advanced technology
Delicious ﬂavour
Fine food – source
of health
Arrangement and photo by Jerzy Mańkowski
Contents
Trends and Forecasts
6 Polish Foreign Trade in Agri-food Products
in January-September 2009
8 Red Meat Market in Poland
Government
9 Implementation of the Rural Development Programme
for 2007-2013
12 Programme for Eradication of Aujeszky’s Disease in Pigs
International Cooperation
14 Visit to Vietnam
14 World Summit on Food Security
15 36th Session of the FAO Conference
15 Fair in Miami
16 Polish-French Consultations
16 MARD at the ANUGA Fair
17 FARMA 2009 Fair
18 Visit to Switzerland
19 Visit to China
19 World Water Week in Stockholm
Regional Development
22 The Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship
at POLAGRA-FOOD 2009 Fair 24
23 Tiger of Polish Dairy Industry
25 Tempting with Great Taste and Aroma
26 Passionate Breeder
27 Porkers Live Short Lives
28 Regional Product: The Lisiecka Sausage
30 Unforgettable Holidays – Podkarpackie Voivodship
Producers-Exporters
35 More Products with the Discover Great Food Quality Mark
36 Producers and Their Products Granted the Discover
Great Food Quality Mark
Food Safety
41 Quality and Safety of Food of Animal Origin
Science and Technology
44 The Quality of Soil in Agriculture Production Areas
in Poland
47 Welfare of Pigs vs. Intensiﬁcation of Production
Eating-out
49 Traditional Polish Cuisine – The Podkarpacie Region
Statistics
Useful Addresses
2
Polish Foreign Trade
in Agri-food Products
in January-September 2009
6
8
In the ﬁrst half of 2009, foreign trade in agri-food products amounted to EUR 14,879
million and was by 8.0% lower
than in the corresponding period of 2008, mainly due to a decrease in import, whereas the turnover denominated in Polish zlotys increased
by 16.7% and amounted to PLN 65,114 million. That
situation resulted from differences in the exchange rate
of the Polish zloty in comparison to the euro.
Red Meat Market in Poland
Next to poultry, pork and beef are the most popular types
of meat produced and consumed in Poland.
The situation on the Polish red meat market is diversiﬁed.
In Q1 2009, the level of pork livestock production in Poland was lower by 16.6% than in H1 2008. In turn, when
it comes to stock in Poland the last years were characterized by a slow but systematic increase. In H1 2009,
the production of beef livestock increased by 8.5% when
compared to H1 2008.
Implementation of the Rural
Development Programme
for 2007-2013
9
The implementation of expenses from EU agricultural
funds is carried out in EU by
accredited payment agencies
only. In Poland, these agencies are the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA) and
the Agricultural Market Agency (AMA).
Since Poland’s accession to EU, ARMA has been playing an essential role in the process of implementing programmes co-ﬁnanced from the EU community budget
and addressed to agriculture.
Regional Product:
The Lisiecka Sausage
The Lisiecka sausage is produced from high-quality meat,
obtained from the most delicate
pork muscles, mainly gammon.
Most of meat used for the production is thickly chopped, thus
after cutting one can clearly see
whole pieces of meat surrounded by a more minced
stufﬁng. A characteristic feature of the Lisiecka sausage
is its big diameter. Therefore, according to local tradition,
for its production only natural beef guts were used, nowadays being sometimes replaced by protein skins.
The sausage’s taste is dominated by seasoned pork meat
with a delicate aroma of pepper and garlic.
28
Winter 2009/2010
Our Suggestions
Unforgettable Holidays
– Podkarpackie Voivodship
30
The Podkarpacie land is
interesting not only due to
its tourist and natural qualities, but also due to its rich
historical past. It is located
at the Carpathians gate, on
a territory of multicultural
roots. Resulting from historical political decisions various cultures and inﬂuences have been mixed here, inﬂuencing
the present-day image of the Voivodship.
More Products with
the Discover Great
Food Quality Mark
The Quality of Soil in Agriculture
Production Areas in Poland
The quality of food products, as far
as the amount of harmful chemical substances included therein is
concerned, depends, to a large extent, on environmental conditions
in agricultural production areas.
Contaminants may be introduced
into plants directly from the atmosphere or from the soil (with the soil
dust or absorbed by the root system). Therefore, a low level of soil
contamination in rural areas is one of the main factors securing
high quality of crops and as a result, minimizing the risk of introducing harmful substances into the human food chain.
44
Welfare of Pigs vs.
Intensiﬁcation of Production
35
The ”Discover Great Food” programme was initiated in 2004.
The right to use the ”Discover Great Food” mark on packaging is
granted by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to
goods which meet the criteria determined by a Scientiﬁc Board
for quality of food products. The Board is composed of outstanding scientists and experts in the domain of agricultural production, processing and human nutrition.
Quality and Safety of Food
of Animal Origin
Food safety (as deﬁned under the Act of 2006) comprises all conditions that have to be fulﬁlled, regarding in particular the used
additives and aromas, the
level of pollutants, residues
of plant protection substances, conditions of food
radiation, physical features
and actions that have to
be taken at all stages of
production and turnover
in food in order to protect
human health and life.
41
47
Intensive keeping systems, designed usually for man’s convenience, seriously modify not only
the animal behaviour but also the
physiology of the whole animal
body, they affect its health, productivity and quality of obtained
products.
Traditional Polish Cuisine
– The Podkarpacie Region
49
In each region of Poland one can come across dishes which are
its specialty, its original concept. In times of globalization searching for and promoting regional
tastes is very valuable, but also
fashionable. Regional dishes are
worth presenting, because they
are a testimony of the region’s
past, they constitute a part of its
cultural heritage and can be additional tourist attraction.
Ofﬁcial quarterly of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture
edited together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under personal
supervision of Minister Marek Sawicki. Appears every three months in English. Editorial
Staff: Ewa Woicka-Bekas (Editor-in-Chief), Ewa Jaroszewicz, Małgorzata Książyk (Deputy
Vol. 4-2009/2010 (52)
Editor-in-Chief), Mariola Marczak; Translation: BUSY B Services; Photography:
I. Chromiak, M. Książyk, M. Lewandowski, J. Mańkowski, I. Skibowska, A. Wierzbieniec; Cover: Photo: Zakłady Mięsne ”Łmeat
– Łuków” S.A. archive; Programme Council: Andrzej Babuchowski (Minister-Counsellor, Permanent Representation of Poland
to the EU), Dariusz Goszczyński (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Michał Rybarczyk (Agency for Restructuring
and Modernisation of Agriculture), Julian Krzyżanowski (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Małgorzata Książyk
(Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Krzysztof Nerć (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Iwona
Nurzyńska (Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture), Zoﬁa Szalczyk (Agency for Restructuring and
Modernisation of Agriculture), Anita Szczykutowicz (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development); Ofﬁce: Polish Food,
ARiMR, ul. Wspólna 30, 00-930 Warsaw, Poland; Phone: (+48 22) 623 20 68, (+48 22) 623 11 75, fax: (+48 22) 623 15 00;
Free subscription: Polish Food, ul. Wspólna 30, 00-930 Warsaw, Poland; e-mail: [email protected], Ewa.Jaroszewicz@
doplaty.gov.pl, [email protected]; http://www.minrol.gov.pl (English version); Submitted to print in January 2010.
Winter 2009/2010
3
Goverment
Dear Sirs!
The year 2009 abounded with various events. In Poland we celebrated the fifth anniversary of our country
becoming member of the European Union. Although as far as agriculture is concerned this is not long enough to allow
a full description of all the changes that
have already occurred, we know that a
general balance is positive.
Farmers and entrepreneurs who
are engaged in agricultural and food
processing made the most of the preaccession period and of the first years
of the EU membership. In no other area
of the economy have the EU funds and
Polish national funds been used so efficiently. Owing to this fact we could observe significant changes which have taken
place in a relatively short period of time.
In no other country and never before
has such an improvement of milk quality been made as it could be observed
in Poland. Simultaneously with changes
which have occurred in the countryside,
we could also note significant changes in
the processing plants, especially in the
dairy and meat industry. Currently, these
plants are among world leaders. It is not
an exaggeration – these plants were undergoing modernization in the first years
of the 21st century. The ”old” EU member states conducted such a process
in the 1970s.
Thus, it is not surprising that our agricultural and food products have been
so successful. Such an effect was possible thanks to high quality primary commodities and modern plants employing
state-of-the-art technologies, which at
the same time are able to use old recipes. Excellent quality, unique taste and
an open market resulted in the fact that
our products appeared on the EU market. Consumers appreciate Polish products and buy them increasingly often.
Such a trend has been observed since
Poland became a member of the EU. After five years which have already passed,
I can state that it is not only due to the
2
novelty of Polish products or their lower prices, but also owing to all the attributes that I have already mentioned.
It is also confirmed by the interest in
Polish agricultural and food products on
third markets. We would like Polish products to appear on markets in Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam and in America and we
do our best to make it possible.
Successes in the foreign trade confirm that hard work, state-of-the-art technologies, the fact of employing excellent
primary commodity and trusty recipes allow us to produce high quality products
meeting different consumers’ tastes.
What is more, the past five years
confirmed that it is reasonable to use
a simplified direct payments system. In
my opinion, this trend should be continued and we should work on it within the
framework of the European Union.
Two years have already passed since
I was appointed to the position of the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. From the very beginning I decided to intensely participate in the works
of the EU. I believe our involvement
showed that Poland exactly knows what
it wants for Polish farmers, but also for
the European agriculture. Experiences of
the past years only confirmed my belief
that our agriculture needs changes. Increasingly fierce international competition
posed new challenges to the European
agriculture. We are entering a decisive
stage as far as the review of the Common
Agricultural Policy is concerned and we
will soon make key decisions concerning
its future shape. We should not forget
about the bases which underlie this policy, i.e. about providing almost half a billion consumers with high quality food, at
the same time guaranteeing a suitable income parity for farmers. It is not an easy
task. Nearly half of the EU budget is intended for the completion of tasks arising from the mechanisms of the Common
Agricultural Policy. These funds have to
be used reasonably. We should remind
the modern Community about the solidarWinter 2009/2010
Goverment
Excellent quality, unique taste and an open market resulted in the fact that
our products appeared on the EU market. Consumers appreciate Polish
products and buy them increasingly often. Such a trend has been observed
since Poland became a member of the EU.
ity rule. We should try to make the level of the provided support equal within
the framework of the whole European Union, as quickly as possible. It will not be
anything new if I say that the agriculture of
the whole Community will be as strong as
its weakest point. Such significant budgetary funds do not only have to be reasonably used, but their disbursement
has to be clear and intelligible, both to
farmers and to consumers. Popularization
of a simplified system of financing, resigning from historical factors conditioning the diversity of payments and treating
all farmers equally, regardless of whether they are from the ”old” or from the
”new” European Union, will undoubtedly
favour this situation. Elimination of these
divisions will provide real conditions for
healthy competition and will strengthen
our common agriculture on the international competitive market. We also need
to undertake activities in the international arena, especially during negotiations
within WTO. The situation in which we
open our markets for products imported from other countries, at the same
time reducing our own production is inadmissible. Farmers in the European Union have to meet increasingly greater requirements concerning production methods and the protection of the natural
environment. It significantly increases the
costs of production and farmers’ workload. At the same time, products and
goods produced without the need to
comply with such requirements and limitations, thus cheaper ones, are allowed on
the market. It has nothing in common with
fair competition. Only products manufactured according to the same production
rigour and with the same regime in terms
of the protection of the environment can
compete on the market.
Winter 2009/2010
A similar situation can be observed ing a herd of cattle or swine. It takes 2-3
with regard to problems that we expe- years to rebuild a herd of swine and 7-9
rience trying to combat hunger. The last years to rebuild a herd of cattle. Agrimeeting within FAO in Rome confirmed cultural production is more complicated
that we lack a clear concept of how to than trade. With trade, it suffices to consolve this problem. In
the name of supporting developing countries,
they want to appear on
the European market and
reach wealthy consumers
rather than to combat
hunger in places where
it really is a problem. We
still provide ready products instead of trying
to find solutions to the
problem.
The world changes Marek Sawicki,
very quickly. The past Minister of Agriculture
year was also the one
and Rural Development
when the world economy experienced crisis. It clearly showed struct a market and you can start sellweak points of the hitherto prevailing ing goods. In agriculture everything is
system. We could see speculation games strongly connected with nature and with
also on agricultural markets and, at the natural cycles; when we try to ignore
same time, the sluggishness of reactions them, the effects are disastrous.
resulting from bureaucratic procedures.
The year 2010 will be, as I have alModern agriculture, especially agricultur- ready mentioned, a decisive year, as
al markets, requires quick and resolute far as the Common Agricultural Policy is
decisions. In the past year, it was clear- concerned. I believe that experiences
ly visible on the dairy market. The time of the last two crisis years showed sigbetween diagnosing a threat and mak- nificant threats, but at the same time aling a decision cannot be so long. I al- lowed us to bring our positions closready signalled last year that the situa- er and thanks to these experiences
tion on this market is difficult. It took a we were able to realize that we have
long time before any concrete decisions to do our best so that the shape of a
were made. In this way we only increase new perspective after 2013 meets the
costs and the effect is still smaller than challenges and makes the European agrithe one which we would observe if de- culture much better prepared for competition, on the one hand, and on the
cisions were made quickly.
Agricultural production is specific and other hand, shows clear and transparent
it is impossible to skip certain rules. The rules of its functioning, both to farmers
simplest example is the cycle of rebuild- and to consumers.
5
Trends
and Forecasts
Goverment
n the first half of 2009, foreign trade in agri-food products amoun
amounted to EUR 14,879
million and was by 8.0% lower than in the corresponding
period of 2008,
2
mainly due to
a decrease in import, whereas the tur
turnover denominated in Polish zlotys increased by
16.7% and amounted to PLN
65,114 mil
million. That situation
resulted fro
from differences in the
exchange ra
rate of the Polish zloty in compa
comparison to the euro.
I
Export
In the ffirst three quarters
of 2009, th
the value of foreign
trade in Pol
Polish agri-food products amoun
amounted to EUR 8,289
million and decreased by 3.7%
comparison with the corin comparis
responding period of 2008 –
denominated in Polish
when deno
zlotys this vvalue increased by
22.2% and amounted to PLN
million.
36,279 mill
The valu
value of sales to the
EU Memb
Member States (EU-27)
decreased by 5.2%, including
a decrease in sales to the old
EU countrie
countries by 3.0% and a
decrease of sales to 11 ”new”
Member SStates by as much
Polish Foreign Trade
in Agri-food Products
in January-September 2009
as 10.9%. In total, the value of Polish goods sold to the
EU market (EU-27) amounted
to PLN 6,6
6,626 million. Within
the structure
structur of agri-food export, export of products to the
EU-27 fell ffrom 81.2% in the
period of JJanuary-September
2008 to 79.9%
79
in the analogous period of 2009.
6
Winter 2009/2010
Trends
and Forecasts
Goverment
The value of export to the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) states amounted to over EUR 754.5 million and in comparison with
the same period of 2008 it decreased by 4.9%. The sales to
the CIS countries constituted
9.8% of the value of the whole
export and in comparison with
the previous year, they have
changed significantly.
In the first half of 2009, the
largest amount of Polish agricultural and food products – over
22%, worth approximately
EUR 1,853 million – was sold
to Germany, and in comparison with the previous year
we could observe a decrease
by 9.7%. The second country after Germany was Great
Britain, to which we exported
goods worth EUR 571 million,
which meant a decrease by
7.3% and constituted 6.9% of
the whole export. Other dominant buyers which come next
include: the Czech Republic –
EUR 548 million, Italy – EUR
523 million and the Netherlands – EUR 494 million. Export to each of these countries constituted from 6.0% to
6.6%. France was in the sixth
place, while the Russian Federaation was the seventh. The valuue of sales to these countries
aamounted to: EUR 425 million
aand EUR 420 million, respectitively. The export to the two
aabove-mentioned countries
w
was at the same level and const
stituted 5.1% for each countr
try. In comparison with the perriod from January to Septembber 2008, the value of export
to the Russian Federation increased by as much as 23%.
Such a significant increase resulted mainly from increased
export of fresh apples and live
swine in comparison with the
previous year. A significant increase of export was also observed with regard to Italy and
France and it amounted to
25% and 21%, respectively.
An increased export of cigarettes had significant impact on
the level of sales to these two
countries. In total, in the first
three quarters of 2009, 58%
of all exported agricultural and
food products was exported
to all of the above-mentioned
countries.
Within the period from
January to September 2009,
in terms of value, the sale
of the following goods: cigarettes, beef, poultry, chocolate, bakery and confectionery products (biscuits, wafers,
etc.), cheese, sugar syrups,
wheat, fruit juice (mainly apple
juice), frozen fruit, pork meat,
smoked fish (mainly salmon),
fresh apples, as well as processed and tinned fish prevailed.
The above-mentioned products constituted approximately 50% of the whole agricultural and food export. In the
group of most frequently exported goods, the most significant increase of the sales value
was observed with regard to
wheat – it was almost 6 times
bigger, fresh apples – over two
times bigger and cigarettes –
by 51%, whereas the sales
value of sugar decreased by
47%, of milk powder by 43%,
of pork by 37%, of fruit juice
(mainly apple juice) by 29%
and of cheese by 25%. See
Chart 1, page 54.
Import
In the first three quarters of
2009, Poland imported agricultural and food products worth
EUR 6,590 million, which was
a decrease by 12.9%, against
the corresponding period of
2008. As a way of comparison, the value of import denominated in PLN increased
by 10.4% and amounted to
PLN 28,835 million.
Winter 2009/2010
Within the EU, Poland imported goods worth EUR
4,668 million, which was a
decrease by over 12.4% in
comparison with the previous year. Import from the
EU Member States constituted 70.8% of the total value of import (in the previous
year it was 70.4%). The value
of purchases in 11 countries
which became new Member
States of the EU on 1 May
2004 decreased by 24.6%
and amounted to approximately EUR 619 million.
In comparison with the
same period of 2008, the value
of import from CIS countries
amounted to EUR 160 million
and decreased by 22.6%, constituting 2.4% (in the previous
year 2.7%) within the structure of import.
Agricultural and food products were imported to Poland from Germany (over
22%), from the Netherlands
(8.7%), Spain (5.8%), Argentina (5.4%) and Denmark
(5.1%). Additionally, a significant number of goods was imported from such countries as:
Italy, France, the Czech Republic and China. Purchases
from all of the above-mentioned countries constituted
nearly 63% of the value of all
agricultural and food products
imported to Poland.
The most important goods
imported to Poland in the first
half of 2009, in terms of their
value, included: pork meat,
soybean press cakes, other
processed foods, fish fillets and
fresh fish, coffee, unprocessed
tobacco, chocolate, citrus fruit,
animal feed and animal intestines. Pork meat was mainly
imported from Germany and
Denmark, while soybean press
cakes from Argentina. The value of the above-mentioned
products constituted 40% of
the total amount of agricultur-
al and food products imported
to Poland.
Within the group of products most frequently imported to Poland, we could observe an increase in the value of imported sugar – over
two times, of unprocessed tobacco – by 50%, of coffee
– by 33% and of swine – by
47%. At the same time, we
could observe that the import
of wheat decreased by 77%,
of corn by 69%, of grapes by
32%, of citrus fruit by 26%
and of animal feed by 21%.
See Chart 2, page 54.
Balance
In the period from January
to September 2009, the balance amounted to plus EUR
1,699 million and increased by
63.9% in comparison with the
same period of 2008 (+EUR
1,037 million).
The balance of turnover
with the EU Member States
was also positive and it amounted to plus EUR 1,959 million.
As a way of comparison, in the
period from January to September 2008, it amounted to
+EUR 1,664 million.
Poland had the highest positive balance with regard to the
turnover with Russia (+EUR 393
million), Great Britain (+EUR
388 million), Germany (+EUR
384 million), the Czech Republic (+EUR 295 million) and Italy
(+EUR 240 million).
Whereas, import significantly higher than export, and
as a result a negative balance,
was observed with regard to
trade with Argentina (-EUR
355 million), Spain (-EUR 194
million) and Denmark (-EUR
151 million).
Department
of Agricultural Markets
Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development
7
Trends
and Forecasts
Goverment
Red Meat Market in Poland
ext to poultry, pork and
beef are the most popular types of meat produced and
consumed in Poland.
The situation on the Polish
red meat market is diversified.
In Q1 2009, the level of pork
livestock production in Poland
was lower by 16.6% than in H1
2008. In turn, when it comes
to stock in Poland the last years
were characterized by a slow
but systematic increase. In H1
2009, the production of beef
livestock increased by 8.5%
when compared to H1 2008.
N
Meat production
Red meat production in Poland is about 2.3-2.5 million tons
per year (Chart 5, page 57).
Production of pork meat
remains the largest among all
types of meat. Production of
beef is much lower; however, it
has been increasing since Poland
entered the European Union.
In the period of 2006-2008,
the production of beef in Poland
fluctuated depending on the
stage of swine cycle, from 1.9
million tons to almost 2.2 million tons. That was about 8-9%
of pork production in EU-27.
Currently, Poland is the fourth
producer of pork in the EU.
When it comes to beef, we are
placed 7th in the EU, with our
production of about 380,000
tons in 2008.
Pork is the most popular meat
among meat types consumed in
Poland. In the last years, an average Pole consumed about 4143 kg of pork per year, which
constituted about 56% of the
total consumed meat. By way of
comparison, the consumption of
beef is only 4 kg per person and
is one of the lowest in the European Union.
8
In the period of 2006-2008,
pork production constituted
58% (on the average) of meat
production (jointly of red meat
and poultry) in Poland.
Slaughter
and red meat processing
The meat industry in Poland is characterized by high
competitiveness and modernity.
The companies producing and
processing meat use the most
modern technologies, they
have modern machine parks,
cutting and production lines. It is
common among these companies to have the quality systems
HACCP and ISO, implemented at each production stage,
from slaughter and cutting, to
processing and distribution.
The investment expenditures and constant development of the sector enable production of meat and preserves
of high quality at competitive
prices. In 2006-2008, the production of meat industry, including slaughter of swine and cattle, was from 1,200,000 tons to
1,450,000 tons. Preserve production reached the level of
about 1,100,000 tons, whereas
about 75-80% of that are cold
meat products, while about 5%
– tinned products.
The cyclical limitation of production and supply of hogs influenced the decrease in meat
production. In large and medium-sized companies, slaughter of flock decreased within the
last two years by almost 20%, in
the whole year 2008 by 7.6%,
and in Q1 2009 by 12%. The
development tendency of cattle slaughter is different as it increases at the rate of 5-10%
a year. In 2008, in large companies slaughter of cattle and
calves increased by 7.6%, and
in H1 2009 by 10.8%.
In 2008, in large and medium-sized companies there
was a decrease in the production of cold meat products by
7.2%, and in H1 2009 by further 8.9%. The production of
such goods is now lower than
in 2007 by over 15%.
Foreign trade
Price and quality competitiveness of the Polish meat helps
it find customers all over the
world.
The Polish foreign trade of
pork sector products is to a
large extent dependent on the
stage of pork production cycle
in Poland, as well as the prices of
livestock and the exchange rate
of PLN against EUR.
In 2006, in the situation of
large production and low prices of swine livestock in Poland, the total balance of trade
in pork (livestock, meat, preserves and fats) was 151,200
tons, including the positive balance of turnover in pork meat
that was at the level of 28,000
tons. In 2007, the total balance of trade in pork decreased
to 32,000 tons, while in 2008
it was negative and constituted -16,000 tons. The import
increased as production in Poland was getting lower, livestock
prices were higher and PLN became stronger against EUR. Almost the whole import comes
from the Common Market.
The most important output
market of pork is Ukraine, buying about 25% of the exported
meat of that type. About 60%
of pork is exported to the European Union states. The other output markets are i.e. Belarus and the demanding Far East
markets: the Republic of Korea,
Japan, Hong Kong.
With regard to beef, Poland is a net exporter. In 2008,
the balance of foreign turnover was 249,000 tons with the
total export of beef at the level of 263,500 tons. The largest
amount of beef is exported to
Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Among the third
countries, the Balkan countries
(Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia
and Herzegovina) are the largest receivers of beef. However,
export out of the European Union constitutes less than 20% of
the total export of beef.
Except for raw pork meat,
Poland exports large amounts of
processed meat. Export of that
assortment is constantly increasing. In 2008, export of preserves and salted and smoked
meat (in meat equivalent) was
58,500 tons, while in 2009, according to some forecasts, it can
reach 69,000 tons.
As forecasted by the Institute
of Agricultural and Food Economics (IAFE), in H1 2010 the
export of livestock, pork meat
and preserves from Poland will
oscillate around 150,000 tons,
whereas the import can be
270,000 tons, which means that
the negative balance in Polish
foreign trade will persist. The
forecasted level of beef products export in H1 2010, about
130,000 tons, will result in preserving the positive balance in
the trade in Polish beef.
Department
of Agricultural Markets,
MARD
In the elaboration, also a work
by IAFE was taken into account
"Meat Market" from the Market
Analyses series, Sept. 2009.
Winter 2009/2010
Government
Goverment
he im
implementation of
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ricultural funds is carried
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Poland, th
these agencies are
the Agenc
Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation
M
of
Agriculture (ARMA) and the
Agricultura
Agricultural Market Agency (AMA).
Since P
Poland’s accession
to EU, ARMA
A
has been
playing an essential role
in the pr
process of implementing p
programmes co-financed fro
from the EU community b
budget and addressed to agriculture.
In the yyears 2007-2013,
ARMA act
acts as a payment
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struments (direct payments,
2007-2013) and an
RDP 200
implementing entity for 13
implement
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out of 21 m
2007-2013. Among the EU
2007-201
countries, Poland is in the
possession of the largest allocation fro
from EAFRD (EUR
13.2 billio
billion) for the fulfilment of tasks
t
under RDP
2007-201
2007-2013. The funds are
supplemen
supplemented by a contribution ffrom the national
T
Implementation of the Rural
Development Programme
for 2007-2013
budget, am
amounting to EUR
4 billion. T
The measures of
RDP 200
2007-2013 are implemented as part of 4 strategic prior
priority axes (Table 1,
page 54).
The obj
objectives and measures of RDP
R
2007-2013
have bee
been selected purWinter 2009/2010
W
9
Government
suant to EU rules regarding EAFRD. Many measures are a specific continuation of the measures of the
Rural Development Programme 2004-2006 and
Sectoral Operational Programme Restructuring and
Modernisation of the Food
Sector and Rural Development for 2004-2006.
of Agriculture is a payment
agency for all payments under RDP 2007-2013 and
an implementing entity for
13 (out of 21) measures.
This function covers, first of
all, the tasks related to acceptance and handling of an
aid application, monitoring
of progress in the measure
implementation and report-
Managing and implementing RDP 2007-2013
requires establishing by the
Member States a proper institutional structure
composed of the Managing Authority and implementing entities. In Poland,
the Managing Authority
for RDP 2007-2013 is the
Minister competent for rural development, i.e. Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development.
The tasks of the Managing Authority with regard to
the implementation of the
measures covered by RDP
2007-2013 are fulfilled by
the following entities:
• The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of
Agriculture (ARMA).
The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation
ing. ARMA is also responsible for the implementation
of technical assistance within the Programme.
• The Foundation of Assistance Programmes for Agriculture (FAPA) with regard
to 1 measure,
• The Agricultural Market
Agency (AMA) with regard
to 1 measure,
• regional self-governments
with regard to 6 measures.
Table 2, page 55 specifies responsibility of implementing entities for the individual measures of RDP
2007-2013.
10
Progress
in the programme
implementation
As part of support implemented by ARMA, the
share of expenses provided to beneficiaries of RDP
2007-2013 is regularly
growing. Since the beginning of the programme implementation, ARMA has
paid out more than PLN
10.2 billion which accounts
for more than 14% of expenses allocated for programmes
co-financed
from the EU. In the ARMA’s structure of expenses in 2009 (as of 31 October 2009), RDP 20072013 accounts for 49% of
all payments implemented
by ARMA while 39% are
direct payments.
Since the beginning of
the Programme, the highest amount – nearly PLN
3.2 billion (31% of payments under RDP 20072013) has been allocated
for supporting 782 thousand various beneficiaries
running agricultural production in mountain areas and
other less-favoured areas
(LFAs) (Chart 3, page 54).
So far, on payment of
early retirements, ARMA has
spent from RDP 2007-2013
more than PLN 2.3 billion
(23%). Such retirements
are received each month by
about 67 thousand farmers
who, when becoming older
than 55, decided to transfer
their holdings.
ARMA has paid out from
RDP 2007-2013 more
than PLN 1.5 billion (15%
of RDP 2007-2013 expenses) to 100 thousand
farmers who implement
agri-environmental programmes in their holdings.
Holdings changing to ecologic production methods have been co-financed
from this programme for 5
years (Chart 4, page 54).
ARMA has paid out more
than PLN 1.2 billion from
RDP 2007-2013 to almost
12 thousand farmers who
implemented investments
supported under the measure ”Modernisation of agricultural holdings.” Most of
these funds have been allocated by investors for the
purchase of modern tractors, agricultural machines
and devices.
On bonuses for settingup of young farmers, ARMA
has spent PLN 245 million.
Such bonuses were granted to more than 4.9 thousand beneficiaries.
To farmers, who afforested land, ARMA has paid
out almost PLN 208 million
and thus covered partial afforestation costs plus tending and afforestation bonuses. Aid was granted to almost 10 thousand farmers
who afforested poor soils
which did not ensure crops
guaranteeing an appropriate income.
Farmers and their family members who launched
non-agricultural undertakings creating new workplaces in rural areas received co-financing from
RDP 2007-2013 amounting to ca. PLN 71.6 million.
Support under the measure ”Diversification into
non-agricultural activities”
has been paid out to 888
beneficiaries.
To producer groups,
ARMA has paid out more
than PLN 63.8 million. By
October 31, 2009, 350
groups have been registered at marshal’s offices.
ARMA has paid out
more than PLN 40.9 million to entrepreneurs from
the agricultural and food
sector, who implemented
investments co-financed
under the measure ”Increasing the added value to
Winter 2009/2010
Government
basic agricultural and forestry production.” The aim of
this measure is to improve
the competitiveness of enterprises in the processing
sector and placing agricultural products on the market, determined by the increase in the added value,
production quality, reduction of costs and development of new products,
processes and production
technologies as well as to
improve the production
conditions with respect to
existing and newly introduced standards.
ARMA has started making payments under the
measure implemented by
regional self-governments
”Running of the local action group.” By October
31, 2009, ARMA has paid
out the total amount of
PLN 5.3 million to 142
beneficiaries.
In 2007, as part of RDP
2007-2013 ARMA paid
out about PLN 180 million, while in 2008 it executed payments amounting to PLN 4.7 billion and
in 2009 (by 30 October)
to more than PLN 5.4 billion. Very high execution
of payments in 2009 takes
place with a different intensity in individual months.
High payments in the first
and fourth quarter of the
year result from execution of payments under the
measures ”Support of management in mountain areas
and in less favoured areas”
and ”Agri-environmental
programme” whose peak
falls in this period.
The largest funds, when
compared to the limit
granted for the measures
in the years 2007-2013,
were used for the measure
”Support for semi-subsist-
ence holdings” (82% of the
financial limit for the years
2007-2013), LFAs (36%)
and measures under which
the liabilities from 20042006 are paid (Table 3,
page 56).
Regional structure
of aid
An analysis of the
use of aid granted under RDP 2007-2013 by
regions showed that the
highest amounts of payments have been paid to
the following voivodships
(Chart 3, page 54): Mazowieckie – PLN 1 573.3
million,
Wielkopolskie
– PLN 1 107.7 million,
Lubelskie – PLN 1 003.5
million.
The lowest amounts of
payments have been paid
to the Opolskie voivodship
(PLN 210.2 million) and
Śląskie voivodship (PLN
205.8 million).
An analysis of the use
of aid granted under RDP
2007-2013 by regions,
per 1 agricultural holding
above 1 ha, according to
CSU, showed that higher
amounts of payments per 1
holding have been paid to
the following voivodships
(Figure 1, page 57): Zachodniopomorskie – PLN
14.9 thousand, WarmińskoMazurskie – PLN 12.9 thousand, Lubuskie – PLN
10.2 thousand.
The lowest amounts
have been granted to the
following
voivodships:
Śląskie (PLN 2.5 thousand),
Małopolskie (PLN 2.3
thousand) and Podkarpackie (PLN 2.3 thousand).
It is worth to note
that the average national
amount of aid granted by
ARMA under RDP 2007-
Winter 2009/2010
2013 per 1 holding above
1 ha (acc. to CSU) amounts
to PLN 5.6 thousand.
The same analysis with
respect to beneficiaries registered in the ARMA’s Producer Register, per 1 registered beneficiary, showed
that the highest amounts of
land under RDP 2007-2013
showed that the highest
amounts of payments have
been paid to the following voivodships (Figure 2,
page 57): Świętokrzyskie
– PLN 933.6, Podlaskie –
PLN 816.9, Mazowieckie –
PLN 737.8.
payments have been paid
to the following voivodships (Figure 1, page 57):
Zachodniopomorskie –
PLN 13.2 thousand, Lubuskie – PLN 10.2 thousand,
Warmińsko-Mazurskie –
PLN 10.1 thousand.
So far, the lowest
amounts have been granted to the following voivodships: Śląskie (PLN 2.4
thousand),
Podkarpackie (PLN 2.3 thousand)
and Małopolskie (PLN 2.2
thousand).
The average national
amount of aid per 1 beneficiary registered in the Producer Register under RDP
2007-2013 amounts to
PLN 5.2 thousand.
An analysis of granted average aid per 1 ha of arable
So far, the lowest
amounts have been granted to the following voivodships: Śląskie (PLN 472.4)
and Opolskie (PLN 378.1).
The average national amount of aid per 1 ha
of arable land under RDP
2007-2013 amounts to
PLN 643.4.
Summary
Poland’s accession to the
EU has induced many positive changes in agriculture
and in rural areas. Since
the accession, ARMA has
paid out to farmers, processors and rural residents
more than PLN 75.3 billion, including PLN 10.2
billion under RDP 20072013. A significant part of
11
Government
these funds (63%) came
from the EU budget.
Thanks to EU support,
Polish holdings and agricultural and food processing plants could adapt to
EU sanitary, hygienic and
veterinary requirements in
a faster way and improve
their competitiveness in the
Single European Market. As
a result, within five years of
membership, the value of
the export of Polish agricultural and food products has
risen from EUR 4 billion to
EUR 11.3 billion. A stream
of additional funds and undertaken investments had
a favourable impact on the
level of income of agricultural holdings, through
which a disproportion between average income of
rural households and income of households decreased. Covering Polish
farmers with common agricultural policy instruments enabled initiation
of actions aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of
management.
Iwona Nurzyńska,
Ewa Wieteska
and Tomasz Wiatrak
ARMA
Department of
Programming and Reporting
Programme for Eradication
of Aujeszky’s Disease in Pigs
programme for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease (Pseudorabies) in pigs
on the territory of the Republic of Poland has been executed in Lubuskie voivodship since 2005, and in other
voivodships since 2008.
A
on the territory of Lubuskie
voivodship (Journal of Laws
No. 109, item 751). The
programme was continued
in 2007 pursuant to the Regulation of the Council of
Ministers of 24 August 2007
on the introduction of the
ritory of the Republic of
Poland pursuant to the Regulation of the Council of
Ministers of 19 March 2008
on the introduction of the
programme for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease
in pigs (Journal of Laws of
Serological laboratory, the Department of Swine Diseases in the National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy.
In Lubuskie voivodship
the programme was implemented under the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 22 June 2006 on
the introduction of the programme for the eradication
of Aujeszky’s disease in pigs
12
programme for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease in
pigs on the territory of Lubuskie voivodship (Journal of
Laws No. 156 item, 1098).
Since 2008, the programme has been implemented on the entire ter-
2008 No. 64, item 397, as
amended).
The programme for the
year 2008 was approved
by the European Commission by way of the Commission Decision 2007/782/
EC of 30 November 2007
approving annual and multi-annual national programmes and the financial
contribution from the Community for the eradication,
control and monitoring of
certain animal diseases and
zoonoses, presented by the
Member States for 2008
and the following years. By
way of the aforementioned
Commission Decision Poland was granted financial
contribution amounting to
50% of qualified costs incurred for carrying out laboratory tests for this disease
entity. The amount of the
contribution in 2008 may
reach the maximum of EUR
4.6 million (Article 15 par.
2(c) of the Commission Decision 2007/782/EC).
The programme for
the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease in pigs for the
year 2009 was approved
by the Commission Decision 2008/897/EC of 28
November 2008 approving annual and multi-annual programmes and financial contribution from the
Community for the eradication, control and monitoring of certain animal diseases and zoonoses present-
Winter 2009/2010
Government
ed by the Member States
for 2008 and the following years. The amount of financial contribution in 2009
may reach the maximum
of EUR 2.5 million (Article 12 par. 2, subpar. (c) of
the Commission Decision
2008/897/EC).
Within execution of the
programme serologic tests
for Aujeszky’s disease are
carried out in pigs; animals
in infected herds are vaccinated or slaughtered. Pigs
in herds epizootically related to the disease outbreak
are also vaccinated. Deleted vaccines allowing differentiating the vaccinated and
infected animals are used in
vaccination.
The first voivodship in
which in 2008 sampling for
laboratory tests for this disease started was Łódzkie
voivodship. Next voivodships successively joined the
programme within the following months. At present,
the programme is being executed already on the entire
territory of the country.
The level of project realization varies depending
on voivodship. The majority
of voivodships have already
completed the first sampling, however, certain individual swine herds, newly
entered into the System of
Identification and Registration of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture, are still
being examined. The second and third sampling is
almost completed in every voivodship. Certain districts in Dolnośląskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lubelskie, Małopolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Śląskie,
Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodships
monitor the disease on a
constant basis. Lubus-kie
voivodship is entirely included in the disease monitoring
designed in the programme
for the area free from the
virus of Aujeszky’s disease.
12 herds infected with
Aujeszky’s disease virus were
detected within 3 years of
of Poland as a result of tests
carried out by the Veterinary Inspection in all herds
amounts to 3.4% and in infected animals – 0.27%.
The number of herds and
animals tested in the framework of the programme for
the eradication of Aujeszky’s
disease in pigs on the terri-
infected herds is a cheaper method but it brings results only after a few years,
slaughter of pigs in infected
herds is, on the other hand,
more expensive, but it leads
to quick elimination of the
disease. As of 30 June 2009,
1,346,717 pigs were vaccinated and 225,642 were
Regional laboratory, the Department of Veterinary Hygiene in Białystok, Łomża branch.
programme realization in
the area of Lubuskie voivodship. In total, 57 pigs originating from these herds were
determined to be positive
in a serological test for the
disease.
2,791,362 pigs in 279,887
herds were tested for Aujeszky’s disease in 2008. 33,420
pigs in 12,659 herds were
determined to be infected
with Aujeszky’s disease virus
on the basis of test results.
2,057,335 pigs in 229,152
herds were tested for Aujeszky’s disease in the first half of
2009. 4,480 pigs in 2,287
herds were determined to
be infected with Aujeszky’s
disease virus on the basis of
tests results.
An average percentage of
infected herds, detected on
the territory of the Republic
Winter 2009/2010
tory of the Republic of Poland and results of tests for
Aujeszky’s disease carried
out in 2008 and in the first
half of 2009 are presented
in Table 4 on page 57.
Methods of the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease
vary depending on the epizootic situation. When choosing the method of eradication a district veterinary officer considers the number
of infected herds in the area
of the district, animal stock
in infected herds and economic rationale. Not infrequently all methods are simultaneously applied in the
area of districts. Each method designed for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease in
pigs (vaccination/slaughter)
has its advantages and disadvantages. Vaccination of
slaughtered/killed under the
programme for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease in
pigs on the territory of the
Republic of Poland.
Owing to joint engagement of pig breeders, designated veterinary officers
and the Veterinary Inspection in programme realization and in obtaining positive effects of Aujeszky’s disease eradication, the Chief
Veterinary Officer will submit as early as this year an
application to the European
Commission for acknowledging Poland as a country implementing an officially approved programme for
the control of Aujeszky’s
disease in pigs.
General
Veterinary Inspectorate
13
International Cooperation
Visit to Vietnam
visit of the Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Marek Sawicki, to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was devoted to
searching for new markets and
promoting food and agricultural articles. The ministry delegates, were accompanied by a
business group.
During the visit, meetings
were held with the Vietnamese
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry as well as with the Deputy
Prime Minister, representatives
of veterinary services and people’s committees of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Also, a
meeting was held with members of the Polish-Vietnamese
friendship society. During negotiations, a discussion was
held on the opportunities to
A
increase trade between our
countries and on the issues regarding placing food and agricultural articles, inter alia, meat
and animal products as well
as dairy products on the Vietnamese market. The Polish
party expressed the will of the
fastest possible completion of
the works related to signing an
agreement which would enable approval of Polish plants
for export of animal products
to Vietnam.
At the Ministry of Trade and
Industry, the parties obliged
themselves to define priorities in bilateral cooperation and
to prepare a list of plants and
companies interested in establishing direct business contacts.
A series of business meetings
contributed to establishing new
contacts both in Ho Chi Minh
and in Hanoi and at a Polish-
Vietnamese business forum
whose official opening was attended by the Polish and Vietnamese Agriculture Ministers.
ing the agricultural fair in Can
Tho. In addition, the visit programme included a series of
meetings with regard to organ-
Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Deputy Prime Minister
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
During the forum, Polish business representatives, who accompanied the minister, had
an opportunity to present their
companies and business offers.
Minister Marek Sawicki participated in a ceremony of open-
ization of agricultural markets
and production of agricultural machines. Potential opportunities to establish cooperation in terms of joint production of machine components
were discussed.
World Summit on Food Security
P
olish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Marek Sawicki participated in the World Summit on
Food Security held in Rome in
November 2009.
the International Atomic Energy Agency), non-governmental and social organizations participated in the
summit. Moreover, the Secretary-General of the United
Apart from about 1,000
delegates from 190 invited countries – FAO members, also representatives of
the UN specialized Agencies (e.g. representatives of
Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and
the President of the European Commission, José Manuel
Barroso, attended the event.
Pope Benedict XVI, who
participated in the opening
14
ceremony, delivered a proclamation to delegates.
The World Summit on
Food Security’s success was
adopting a political declaration
expressing the good will of the
participating countries to undertake a joint effort for improvement of the state of the
world food security.
During the summit four discussion panels were organized.
Minister Marek Sawicki participated in the discussion panel entitled ”Minimizing negative
impact of food, economic and
financial crisis on world food
security.” In his speech he expressed his support for the initiative of creating a world structure of food security, balanced
increase of agricultural produc-
tion both in developing and
developed countries. He also
tackled the issue of increasing
food production, food security and proceeding towards reducing world hunger with conservation of natural resources
and climate protection. He expressed his conviction that the
discussion about global food
security and climate changes
should be accompanied by solidarity and cooperation among
rich and poor regions of the
world. He emphasised Poland’s
role in reducing hunger in the
world and in increasing global food security, also by promoting innovation, modernization, restructuring and transfer
of experience to the developing countries.
Winter 2009/2010
International Cooperation
36th Session of the FAO Conference
irectly after the conclusion of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome,
the 36th Session of the FAO
Conference started. Over 180
government delegations participated in the meeting as well
as representatives of non-governmental organizations. The
36th Session was dedicated to
the process of reforming FAO.
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was represented by Under-Secretary of State Marian
Zalewski who delivered an address entitled ”Food safety related to climate safety – Polish
perspective.” He put strong
emphasis on the need to reform FAO, he also drew the
listeners’ attention to global
problems concerning hunger
and malnutrition in the world;
moreover, he emphasized the
necessity to care for biodiver-
D
sity, reduce the emission of
greenhouse gases, protect climate and take into consideration climate changes. In his address he presented Poland as
a country with productive potential allowing for increase
of food safety and simultaneous realization of environmental goals defined by the EU. He
emphasized that Poland produces healthy products characterized by rich taste, appreciated all over the world.
He drew the listeners’ attention to the importance of family agricultural holdings in the
process of transformation and
expressed his conviction that
Polish experience in this respect could be used by the
FAO member states.
During the visit to Rome,
the Polish delegation headed
by Marian Zalewski participated in a series of bilateral meet-
ings, e.g. with delegations
from the People’s Republic of
China (PRC), Vietnam, France,
and pork to the Chinese market and a visit to Poland to be
paid by representatives of Chi-
Under-Secretary of State Marian Zalewski
Germany, Denmark, Sweden,
Lithuania and the Holy See.
At a meeting with the director-general of the Ministry of
Agriculture of the PRC, Wang
Ying, the Polish delegation discussed cooperation within the
FAO framework, trade between Poland and the PRC,
export of the Polish poultry
nese veterinary services in the
first quarter of 2010. Marian
Zalewski also met with FAO
Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller. The discussed
issues included: food and phytosanitary safety, further FAO
reforms and prospects for the
development of cooperation
between Poland and FAO.
behind the ”Discover Great
Food” programme, and information about Polish agriculture and food economy.
Beside presentations of informational materials, there
were also cooking shows organized by the Union of Producers and Employers of
Meat Industry (UPEMI) headed by a cook from Poland.
The aim of the cooking show
was to present an interesting alternative solution for
American cuisine, using Polish
products mainly in sandwiches served hot and cold.
The stand presented products of 9 companies: MAMUT sp. z o.o., MOKATE S.A.,
Fruit and Vegetables Process-
ing Plant ORZECH sp. z o.o.,
Production and Trade Company PAULA, SOKOŁÓW
S . A . , A K W A W I T- B R A S CO S.A., SOLIDARNOŚĆ,
AGROS NOVA Sp. z o.o. and
MAXTOP.
The Polish stand attracted considerable attention of
visitors from the USA, Canada and South America. Visitors expressed special interest
in Polish alcohols, sweets and
fruit and vegetable crisps.
Representatives of the
Polish Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development participated in a seminar held at
the Jay Malina International
Trade Consortium of Miami
Dade County, Florida.
Fair in Miami
he International Food
Fair, the 12th Americas
Food and Beverage Show,
took place in Miami, Florida,
on 9-10 November, 2009.
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develop-
T
ment organised an informative-promotional stand at the
fair. The stand served the
purpose of presenting the
products with the PDŻ –
”Discover Great Food” quality mark, the aims and idea
Winter 2009/2010
15
International Cooperation
Polish-French Consultations
he 2nd Polish-French
Intergovernmental Consultations took place in Paris
on November 5, attended by
representatives of the Ministry of Food Economy, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Republic of France and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development of the Republic of Poland.
During talks with French
Minister of Agriculture Bruno Le Maire, Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki
emphasized the need of joint
actions for maintaining strong
agricultural policy after 2013
which could respond to the
challenges the agricultural sector and rural development
will face. For Poland, an issue
of considerable importance is
to make equal the level of direct payments in the whole
EU since 2013. The ministers agreed on maintaining
market support in the coming years on the basis of the
safety net in order to be able
T
to intervene in a situation of
market instability and risk for
farmers’ incomes. The ministers adopted a joint communiqué on actions for the future development of the European agriculture. It read that
France and Poland, the countries paying much attention
to lasting agricultural activity
on the European territory, in
the perspective of 2013 expect a renewed common agricultural policy, capable of facing key challenges to agriculture, food economy and our
nations. Such a new European agricultural and food policy
should construct a just economic framework and stable
development prospects for
agriculture and agri-food industries, and for the very consumers. Finally, it should assure effective regulation of the
issue of growing changeability
on the agricultural markets. It
should as well support participation in worldwide food balance, assuring also adequate
common market supply, both
in terms of quantity and quality, at the same time respecting
choices made by European
citizens. To achieve this aim,
it should maintain its integrative role in respect to the protection of environment, including climate change and
territorial cohesion, responding to expectations concerning food and feeding. Poland
and France reiterated here
their support for the direct
payments system for the period after 2013 in order to
make it equal and its legitimization renewed on the European level.
An agreement on strategic partnership concluded in
2008 favoured the development of common strategies
in the CAP domain and modernization of the agricultural sector by creating a formal
framework for a Polish-French
working group’s activities: Poland and France commit themselves to further actions of the
Polish-French working group
in order to develop common
positions, taking into consideration the framework of the
ambitious calendar.
Poland and France will jointly work on the preparation of
the CAP after 2013. Thinking
ahead of this date, both countries will define common positions aiming at the creation of
the new system of milk regulation and balancing the system of powers in the domain
of food chain, especially based
on experience gained at implementing observatories of
market and prices.
France also suggested
making use of its experience
and support in the process
of preparation of Poland for
the EU Presidency. Poland
and France committed themselves to favour the participation of Polish and French
companies respectively in important events aiming at promoting agri-food industry in
both countries.
MARD at the ANUGA Fair
he Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized a stand
on the exhibition surface of
56 m² at the Internation-
T
16
al Food Fair ”ANUGA 2009”
which was held in Cologne on
October 10-14, 2009. The
stand presented products with
the PDŻ – ”Discover Great
Food” quality mark, the aims
and the idea of the ”Discover Great Food” programme,
and information about Polish
agriculture and food economy.
One of the visitors at the fair
was the Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Marek Sawicki.
Apart from getting acquainted with informational materials
one could taste Polish high
quality products, distinguished
with the PDŻ – ”Discover
Great Food” quality mark.
The stand presented products coming from 24 companies: Raciborska Milk Coop-
erative, MAMUT sp. z o.o.,
MOKATE S.A., Średzka Cooperative ”JANA”, Meat Plant
DOBROWOLSCY sp. z o.o.,
District Milk Cooperative TOPTOMYŚL, Fruit and Vegetables
Processing Plant ORZECH
sp. z o.o., CEDROB S.A.,
Meat Plant VIOLA, District
Milk Cooperative in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Production
and Trade Company PAULA,
Supported Employment Enterprise DEGA S.A., Płockie
Poultry Plant SADROB S.A.,
SM LAZUR, Dobrosława Meat
Processing Plant Sp. z o.o,
SOKOŁÓW, Koźlakiewicz
Winter 2009/2010
International Cooperation
Farms sp.j., Virtu Sp.j., AKWAWIT-BRASCO S.A., Kutnowskie
Poultry Plants EXDROB S.A.,
PWC ODRA, Milk Processing
Plant ”MLECZ” sp. z o.o., PRYMAT Sp. z o.o. – Multi-Industry
Establishment ”SMAK” and Silesian Distillery of Brand Vodkas
POLMOS S.A.
Products of these companies drew considerable attention not only of German consumers, but also of visitors
from other countries. Visitors
were interested in poultry
and meat products, cheese,
butter, yoghurts, sweets, fruit
teas and spirits. Special atten-
tion was paid to fruit and vegetable crisps which turned
out to be a great success
among the fair visitors.
During the fair, on October 13, at the Congress-Centrum Ost der Kölnmesse, the
Polish Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development to-
gether with the Department
of Promotion, Trade and Investment of the Consulate of
the Republic of Poland in Cologne organized an informative-promotional seminar for
German companies interested in Polish food producers’ offer.
FARMA 2009 Fair
he International Fair of
Animal Breeding FARMA
2009 took place on October
9-11 in Poznań. Marek Sawicki, the Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Development, and
Andrzej Byrt, the President
of the Poznań International
Fair, opened the fair by cutting the ribbon. Farma 2009 is
a typical agricultural fair where
we could see what modern,
well-designed cowsheds, pigsties or chicken houses look
like. The fair was addressed to
professional breeders, farmers and people directly linked
to the industry.
Minister Marek Sawicki
stated that fair events taking
place on the exhibition area
in Poznań have come to be
appreciated among exhibitors
and farmers. ”A fair focusing
on presenting modern solutions implemented in breeding pigs, cattle and poultry is a
good idea. This fair is a good
opportunity to exchange experience and start discussion
concerning new technological solutions and modern production. We, farmers want to
show other social groups how
important and modern our
production is. In fact, agricultural products are one of the
main elements of our export,”
said the Minister.
The FARMA 2009 fair was
held under the patronage of
the Minister. 105 companies
T
participated in the fair, including companies from 9 foreign
countries. They were, among
others, companies from the
Czech Republic, Spain, the
Netherlands, Germany, Great
Britain and Italy. The exhibition surface amounted to
nearly 5 thousand sqm.
For the first time at the Farma fair, three pavilions comprised especially for this purpose constructed and arranged space where new
modern equipment and building construction elements
could be presented as well as
novelties related to European
breeding trends.
Exposition was divided to
segments concerning modern
breeding:
• agro construction,
• animal feeding,
• genetics, veterinary,
• bioenergy
• machines.
During a follow-up to the
FARMA 2009 opening ceremony there was a press conference of Minister Marek Sawicki and PIF President Andrzej
Byrt, at which the Minister
emphasized that among the
EU Member States, Poland is
a leader in promoting good
consumption habits among
children and young adults.
In our country it is proved
by the scale of implementation of ”a glass of milk” and
”fruit at school” programmes
Winter 2009/2010
which have started at the beginning of the school year
2009/2010. The Minister also
described the role of promotional actions for developing export. ”Poland reaches beyond
the European Union
markets. Today, cooperation with Russian,
Ukrainian and Belarusian markets is very
important. We also
look forward to getting new export possibilities. Soon we expect to complete talks
and open new possibilities in meat trade
with Singapore, China
and Vietnam.”
FARMA’s rich trade
offer was completed
by numerous seminars and
conferences. Their scope was
broad and covered inter alia
increasing breeding holdings’
productivity, minimizing production costs, ecology, and
new trends in animal feeding, procuring European Union funds and new solutions
in the scope of constructing
buildings for animals. Renewable energy was an important and broadly discussed issue. It was the main subject
of talks at the 8th Agricultural Round Table. Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry Tadeusz Nalewajk, who
participated in talks, under-
lined that in Poland bioenergy development cannot create conflict with the agriculture’s fundamental aim that is
securing food for the following 30-50 years. At that time,
food production will have to
double. He underlined that
in order to produce bioenergy, first of all agricultural
and agri-food processing industry by-products should be
used. During the fairs, a seminar of Agricultural Producers Groups took place, as
well as a Polish-Dutch meeting of breeders at which the
future of pigs breeding was
discussed. A Polish-German
seminar focused on the issue of bioenergy in agriculture
with special attention paid to
biogas production.
17
International
Cooperation
Goverment
At FARMA 2009, prizes
were awarded to winners of
the 7th National Safe Agricultural Holding Competition,
organized every year by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund
(KRUS), the Agricultural Property Agency (ANR) and the
National Labour Inspectorate
(PIP). The aim of the competition is to promote the rules
of protecting health and life in
agricultural holdings.
At the fair four exhibitors
were awarded the Golden
Medals of Farma International Fair. Those medals have
been awarded since 1979 and
have been widely recognized
among domestic and foreign
exhibitors. They are a valuable form of promotion and a
perfect, often willingly used
by companies, marketing tool.
Prizes were also awarded to
winners of the ”Acanthus Aureus” competition, since 2003
organized by the Poznań International Fair. The Statue
of the Golden Akant was also
awarded to a stand of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The aim of
this competition is to distinguish the best architectural
and graphical solutions which
foster direct communication
with clients and underline the
good image of the company.
Minister Marek Sawicki personally awarded prof. dr hab.
Jędrzej Krupiński, the director
of the National Research Institute of Animal Production
IZ-PIB, with a cup in recognition of preparation and implementation of the farm animals
genetic resources protection
system in Poland. Minister
Marek Sawicki, when awarding the cup, said that the prepared and implemented sys-
tem constitutes practical solution of current problem that
is the necessity for protection
of genetic resources resulting
from the Convention on Biological Diversity. Based on the
collected information, IZ-PIB
developed programs of protecting the genetic resources
constituting a basis for realization of protection of particular species, breeds and genetic lines of farm animals.
At the FARMA fair, every year a political debate is
held by the National Council of Agricultural Chambers.
The aim of the meeting is
to discuss the most important issues for Polish agriculture. Representatives of political parties are invited to discuss them. This year’s debate,
the third in a row, was organized under the slogan ”Future
of Polish agriculture in times
of economic crisis.” Minister
Sawicki emphasized that one
of the most important issues
for the future of our agriculture is export diversification.
Another issue is the possibility to procure extra-agricultural income by the very farmers. He stressed the fact that
in Europe there is overproduction of food, that is why
part of it should be dedicated
to producing renewable energy. Ordering the food chain
constitutes another problem
of our agriculture. The Minister drew the listeners’ attention to the fact that shaping prices on given elements
of the food chain should be
more transparent. Another
debate has been scheduled
for the following year while
the next FARMA fair has been
scheduled for 10-13 February 2011, and since that date,
the fair will be held every two
years.
Visit to Switzerland
A
delegation of the Polish
Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development,
headed by Under-Secretary of State Andrzej Dycha, paid a study visit to the
experience of this country in
chosen aspects of agriculture.
Experts from the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG),
headed by Manfred Bötsch,
the Director-General of the
Swiss Confederation in midOctober.
The goal of this visit was
to get acquainted with the
FOAG, participated in a seminar organised to discuss the
Swiss position in the WTO
negotiations and in negotia-
18
tions concerning trade agreements concluded with third
countries in the scope of agriculture. Moreover, the Swiss
system of agricultural support was discussed as well
as legislation and practices in
the scope of geographical indications and organic farming. Switzerland presented,
among others, assumptions
and the present state of implementation of its ongoing
agricultural policy reform the
aim of which is to adapt the
Swiss agricultural sector to
the developments and possible results of WTO Doha
Round and tendencies to liberalization of world trade in
agri-food products.
Andrzej Dycha met with
ambassador Monika Rühl
Burzi, the head of the Department for Bilateral Economic Relations of the Swiss
Confederation, the main
representative of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements. Talks centered around
the bilateral Polish-Swiss cooperation in agriculture, the
state of WTO DDA Round
and prospects for its completion. Moreover, the issue
of the Swiss vision of further
development of the agricultural sector was discussed
from the perspective of its
adjustment to challenges the
world economy is facing now
(among others economic crisis, food safety, and food security, negotiations concerning world agricultural trade,
and climate changes).
Winter 2009/2010
International
Cooperation
Goverment
Visit to China
September visit to China
by the Polish Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development’s delegation, headed
by undersecretary of state Marian Zalewski, was devoted to
the acceleration of actions leading to enabling the export of
poultry and pig meat and their
preparations as well as of horses and horse meat to this country. In the course of the visit, talks were conducted at
the Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA)
during which the Chinese delegation was headed by Wang
Daning. The issues concerning placing Polish poultry meat
on the Chinese market have
been discussed. The parties
have agreed on the date of a
visit by Chinese inspectors to
Poland during which an inspection approving plants applying
for the export of poultry products to China would be carried out. During a meeting at
A
the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the
Chinese representatives were
headed by the deputy minister,
Wei Chuanzhong. The talks regarded the completion of another stage of a procedure approving Polish enterprises for
the export of pig meat to the
PRC. The Chinese party received a reply to a report on
the inspection carried out by
Chinese inspectors in Poland.
The Chinese party expressed its will of the fastest
possible completion of work
related to signing an appropriate agreement which would
enable the approval of Polish
plants for the export of red
meat to China. At the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture,
Marian Zalewski had a meeting with deputy minister Niu
Dun. The ministers have discussed in details all the issues
pertaining to bilateral cooper-
ation. New types of cooperation, also those concerning the
Polagra-Food agricultural fair,
were proposed and a sched-
Long, and the Mayor and the
Deputy Mayor of the city of
Qingdao, where Poland’s export opportunities were dis-
ule of the nearest meetings of
the Working Group for agriculture and food economy was
arranged. The Polish delegation
took part in the 7th China International Meat Industry Exhibition CIMIE 2009 in Qingdao,
Shandong province. At the fair,
Marian Zalewski, participated
in a series of meetings, inter
alia, with the President of China Meat Association, Li Shui
cussed. Also, a possibility of
establishing direct cooperation between Shandong province and Poland was discussed.
Moreover, the visit featured
a meeting at the Lovol company manufacturing agricultural machines, where possibilities
of cooperation with regard to
joint production of subassemblies for machines manufactured there were considered.
World Water Week in Stockholm
uring the World Water
Week, organized at the
end of August in the capital of
Sweden, Stockholm, secretary of state at the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Kazimierz
Plocke participated in a seminar ”Swedish Baltic Sea Water
Award: a new model of leadership for promotion of the
economic growth and environment” which has been organized by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
International Water Institute.
The aim of this seminar was
to analyse the currently discussed multisectoral Europe-
D
an Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and resulting
possibilities of taking up the
issues regarding potable and
sea water through new forms
of management and innovations. During the seminar, Kazimierz Plocke gave a lecture
on the Polish vision of cooperation in the Baltic Sea region in the context of the European Union Strategy for
the Baltic Sea Region. In his
speech, he focused on chances and opportunities arising
from the strategy not only for
Poland but also for the whole
Baltic Sea region. He also
talked about challenges relat-
Winter 2009/2010
ed to the strategy implementation and regarding, first of
all, the environment protection issues.
During the World Water
Week, Kazimierz Plocke took
part in a meeting with the
Swedish minister for international cooperation and development, Gunilla Carlsson to
discuss water management in
the context of progressing climate changes in the world.
The World Water Week,
which has been held in Stockholm since the beginning of
the 1990s, is an occasion
for annual meetings of experts, practitioners, policy-
makers and political leaders
from around the world. The
most important issues, related to the water management
and water resources management are discussed here.
In 2009, the winner of
the Swedish Baltic Sea Water
Award was HELCOM (Helsinki Commission). It is worth
to mention that Polish entities have won the award 4
times since 1999, inter alia, in
2000 – the city of Gdańsk and
in 2007 – Professor Krzysztof Skóra, Ph.D, the head
of the University of Gdańsk
Marine Station (incl. a seal
aquarium).
19
Goverment
Close to
Winter 2009/2010
20
Goverment
Nature
Winter 2009/2010
21
Regional
Development
Goverment
The Zachodniopomorskie
Voivodship at POLAGRA-FOOD
D
uring the POLAGRAFOOD 2009 Fair in
Poznań, in two pavilions the
atmosphere was pretty much
different than in the other
parts of this year’s exhibition.
The visitors were attracted
by the aroma of delicious
Polish dishes and region-
The visitors could taste and
buy foodstuffs of regional,
traditional, ecological character. Large stands were prepared by voivodship governments that tried to present
their regions from both the
culinary and touristic point
of view.
al products that were presented and sold at stands located there. Various regions
of Poland presented themselves under their common
byword ”Tastes of Regions.”
Plenty of expositions
seemed interesting, but undoubtedly the stand of
the Zachodniopomorskie
Voivodship was prominent
among them. Consequently,
22
the jury of the ”Polish Food”
quarterly awarded that stand
one of three equal prizes in
its competition ”The most
interesting promotion at POLAGRA-FOOD fair 2009.”
The prizewinning stand
presented in an interesting
way both the offer of the regional agricultural and food
processing industry and the
tourist value of the Zachodniopomorskie voivodship. The
eyes of visitors were really
attracted by the original arrangement of the stand. Also
the offer of food companies
and tourist attractions of the
region induced further interest in the stand.
Most of all, the organizers of the voivodship’s exposition tried to show and encourage to taste their local
foodstuffs.
One could taste and buy
drahim honey, produced by
natural methods within the
Drawsko Landscape Park,
among heaths, acacia copses, lime alleys, fields of buckwheat and rape.
There were plenty of
people gathering around
the stand with pickles from
Kołobrzeg, where Elżbieta
Kuczma explained the origin of the production method. The tradition of using the
natural brine from underground waters in Kołobrzeg
in production of home preserves, including pickles, is
very long. At another stand
one could taste the ”lake
pickle from Kalisz Pomorski.
These pickles are not prepared with the use of natural brine but the process of
souring takes place in oak
barrels dipped in a lake.
Once you had tasted pickles, you could go to another
corner of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship’s stand to
try another regional specialty
– koprzywieński wholemeal
bread. The producer, Kazimierz Kula, eagerly treated
the visitors and sold whole
loaves. The tradition of baking such bread developed
over 50 years ago among
the residents of Koprzywno
settlement.
These examples of regional products are only some elements of the offer presented at the prizewinning stand.
Dega encouraged to taste
”paprykarz szczeciński” (can
with mixed fish meat, rice
and spices from Szczecin).
Beer enthusiasts queued at
a stand of Fuhrmann brewery to taste the ”Starovar”
beer. The original cold meat
products of pig-hog: smoked
sausage, ham, smoked fillets were offered by Mr and
Mrs Kawecki, who also run
an agro-tourist guesthouse
”Zielona Dolina” (Green Valley). Another producer encouraged visitors to taste
goat meat sausages.
The visitors could also actively participate in preparation of regional dishes,
e.g. various kinds of dumplings. A great Pyrzyce dumpling was prepared by Danuta Cząstka and stand visitors
made and ate the total of…
5,000 dumplings. There was
also a great fish dish prepared in front of the visitors –
”giżyński style” vendace. It is
Winter 2009/2010
Regional
Development
Goverment
impossible to mention all the
culinary attractions presented
at the stand of the Zachodniopomorskie voivodship.
The Zachodniopomorskie voivodship is characterized by beautiful nature and
historical sites. Those who
have never been there yet
will probably be tempted
to go there owing to colourful maps, brochures and
guidebooks distributed at
its POLAGRA-FOOD 2009
Fair stand. These free information publications are
very attractive due to applied graphic solutions, they
are practical in use, contain
plenty of information about
the region and some interesting objects and events for
tourists. They also popularize various forms of tourism:
canoeing along the following rivers: Drawa, Myśla and
Płonia, cycling routes, e.g. in
the communes of the Association of Towns and Communes within the Parsęta
River Basin.
Undoubtedly, an attraction of the stand was a presentation of a hog roasted
with traditional hunter setting, hunter signalists who
grandstanded with signals
played on the hunter horns.
Admirers of regional danc-
es could watch a performance by the Song and Dance
Ensemble ”Pyrzyce”, while
those who prefer early music were enchanted by the
performance of young artists
of the Early Music Ensemble
from Kalisz Pomorski.
Ewa Woicka-Bekas
Agency for Restructuring
and Modernization
of Agriculture
Tiger of Polish Dairy Industry
n the recent years, Polish
dairy industry has made
the biggest progress in
terms of the quality of dairy
products in Europe, if not
in the whole world. Polish
milk processing plants have
made large investments to
modernize the plants and
adapt them to new challenges appearing on the
market. Dairy Cooperative MLEKOVITA in Wysokie Mazowieckie has undergone a major change,
as from a local dairy-production cooperative it has
transformed into the biggest dairy capital group in
Poland.
Every day MLEKOVITA purchases and processes approximately 14%
of national milk production, while over 35% of
MLEKOVITA products are
exported to other countries. Last year, MLEKOVITA produced 35 thousand
tons of cheese, approx.
25 thousand tons of butter, 20 thousand tons of
whey powder, 10 thousand
tons of skim milk powder,
4 thousand tons of full
cream milk powder, millions of litres of UHT milk
and of other milk drinks,
I
hundreds of thousands of
tons of other dairy products, ice creams, etc. Every
day 100 lorries packed with
various dairy products leave
SM MLEKOVITA. One-third
of these products
is exported.
We are pleased
with this fact since
MLEKOVITA is
a plant with 100%
Polish
capital.
MLEKOVITA is a
kind of cooperative holding uniting 16 dairy cooperatives in different parts of
Poland – namely
a parent cooperative in Wysokie
Mazowieckie and
divisions located
in: Bielsk Podlaski,
Morąg, Chrzanów, Zakopane,
Kluczbork, Kowalewo Pomorskie,
Chojnice, Pilica,
Wolsztyn, Działdowo, Lubawa, Pieniężno, Jadowniki,
Goręczyno and a division
in Baranowo which joined
MLEKOVITA capital group
this year.
MLEKOVITA is a company which for several years
Winter 2009/2010
in a row has been the first
one in the most prestigious ranking prepared by
the National Association
of Dairy Cooperatives, in
which specialists evaluate
ucts are available on European, Asian, as well as
American and African markets. The company has its
regular clients with whom
it has been cooperating for
as many as 17 synthetic
economic indicators. It was
awarded The Biggest and
the Best Dairy Cooperative titles. For many years,
MLEKOVITA has been the
first on the list of the biggest
dairy exporters. Its prod-
many years. Products bearing the MLEKOVITA trademark are recognized and
appreciated by both Polish
and foreign consumers.
The area of the parent cooperative in Wysokie Mazowieckie exceeds
23
Regional Development
18 ha. Production sites are
equipped with machines
of reputable world-famous
companies and with vast
high storage warehouses.
Sterile cleanliness and ideal
order reign everywhere.
”If you want to manufacture products of the highest quality, all technological regimes must be followed with pharmaceutical
precision,” explains Dariusz Sapiński, the president
of MLEKOVITA, who has
been running the company
for the last 25 years. MLEKOVITA has its renown,
since according to the latest Sparks Europe ranking
it has been recognized as
a leader in the production
of maturing cheeses. According to independent surveys, cheeses produced by
our cooperative are one of
the most popular cheeses
among consumers and have
the biggest market share
of all producers. According to Sparks Polska, »Orange Vita« drinks, mixing
milk and juice, produced by
MLEKOVITA have enjoyed
a lot of success on the market. Research shows that
they are the most popular
milk drinks among children,
while milk drinks produced
by MLEKOVITA are bought
by 16% of Polish consumers. Products by MLEKOVITA always have the highest
quality, which is confirmed
by all national and foreign
controls – including the latest control conducted by
an inspector from the U.S
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”
”This success should undoubtedly be ascribed to
our process engineers, milk
providers should also be
praised for their contribution. The quality of milk is
24
the most decisive factor as
far as the quality of the final product is concerned.
MLEKOVITA purchases milk
from almost 20 thousand
farmers – every day we
receive from 2.5 to 2.8
million litres of the highest
quality milk.”
”Many farmers who are
our milk providers invested significant amounts of
money in the modernization of their farms, benefiting from the pre-accession
SAPARD programme and
from the EU funds, such
as SOP or RDP, or by taking convenient preferential
credits with subsidy to interest from the Agency for
Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture. Farmers are still interested in cattle husbandry and milk production, this interest would
probably be even greater if
it was not limited by so severe milk quotas.”
”MLEKOVITA also invests
significant amounts of money in the modernization
and development of all its
processing plants. This year
the company will allocate
approximately PLN 80 million for this purpose, and it
will not be a record-breaking year in this respect.”
”It is true. We used to allocate over PLN 100 million for investments, but
then we benefitted from
various programmes co-financed from the EU funds,”
states president Sapiński.
”We have always been the
first to use all the possibilities which are given by
assistance instruments offered to the dairy industry
by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of
Agriculture. Currently, our
company is too big and the
access to assistance funds is
significantly limited in comparison with the previous
years, up to 2007. Fortunately, we started the process of modernization and
restructuring in MLEKOVITA
15 years ago and we managed to fully benefit from financial means, both national
and EU ones, intended for
supporting the integration
with the European Union.
We have created a company which is economically
strong. This year, we have
invested our own financial
resources and we started
in Wysokie Mazo-wieckie
the most modern production line in entire Europe,
which allows for filling 700
thousand cardboard boxes
a day. We have also started
to produce a new generation of OMEGA-3 yoghurts
of unusual flavours: aloe,
cranberry & pomegranate and lychee and lime.
These yoghurts are additionally enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids and in probiotic cultures – Lactobacilus acidophilus LA-5 and Bifiolobacterium BB-12. They have
antibacterial properties,
they prevent most bacterial/microbial and virus/viral infections, they also provide easily assimilated calcium and phosphorus, and as
a result they prevent osteoporosis, help with constipations, flatulence and inflammatory bowel disease,
but above all, due to the
fact that they contain omega-3 fatty acids, these yoghurts support the functioning of the whole neurovascular system, particularly
the functioning of the heart
and brain.”
”It is also worth mentioning that in spring next
year we are planning to fin-
ish the construction of a
production hall, located on
the premises of the parent cooperative, where we
will make a maturing plant
and a section for cheese
confectioning of the technical capacity of 250 tons
a day,” emphasizes president Sapiński. ”This year,
we have installed a modern production line producing mozzarella cheese on
the premises of our production site in Zakopane
and another one intended for the production of
cottage cheese in Lubawa.
This year, we will also open
a new production site in
Kaliningrad Region (Russia).
Next year we plan further
investments, both in Poland
and at our eastern neighbours. We would also like
to equal the best Dutch,
German, Danish and French
companies as far as the production size is concerned.
Currently, MLEKOVITA is
not in any way inferior to
them in terms of modernity and quality of its products,” concludes president
Sapiński.
MLEKOVITA can also
successfully promote its
products. During the last
POLAGRA-FOOD Fair in
Poznań in 2009, the company’s exposition and the
way of promoting its products was recognized by the
competition jury as The
most interesting promotion
at POLAGRA-FOOD 2009
and awarded the Cup of the
Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development and of
the President of the Agency
for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture.
Congratulations!
Winter 2009/2010
Antoni Radzewicz
ARMA
Regional Development
Tempting with Great Taste
and Aroma
ACÓWKA from Rajbrot,
near Bochnia, is one of the
winners in the ”Polish Food”
quarterly’s competition called
”The most interesting promotion at POLAGRA-FOOD 2009
fair.” BACÓWKA’s stand was
neither huge nor very modern
in its form. However, it was distinguished by its traditional climate created by its form of
a Polish highlander chalet and
the presented Polish regional
foodstuffs from Małopolska and
Podkarpacie regions. Competent and nice staff as well as interesting information also contributed to the good impression
made on the competition jury.
BACÓWKA is a real factory of delicacies. The company produces hundreds of meat
and sausage products, all of
them extraordinarily tasty and
fragrant. The products attract
our attention, smell nicely and
are mouth-watering as they are
unique in every respect. They
are real gems whose recipes
were passed on from generation to generation.
”Our plant cultivates the
culinary heritage of the highlanders with due solicitude,”
emphasizes Danuta Bigaj, the
managing director of BACÓWKA. ”We do not rely on industrial processing and do not produce articles with the use of
a highly effective technology
but we focus on specialties of
the best butcher’s craftsmanship, which are products for
connoisseurs.”
”In our company, we do not
process semi-carcasses from
large herd farms. We use only
raw meat coming from small
farms within Pogórze Lipnic-
B
kie Foothills. These carcasses
are characterized by large quality values as they come only from
animals fed with natural feeding
stuffs,” explains Sławomir Chomentowski, the chief technologist of BACÓWKA. ”We implement traditional technologies.
All the recipes are original, often traced back to recipes from
many generations ago. Our vicinity was famous for its special care for production of cold
meat products, among which
smoked sausages and juicy ham
had the lead. The most delicate parts of pork haunch, deprived of any fat or tendons,
were marinated in rock salt with
some natural herbs and aromatic spices for several days. Then
the taste intensity was regulated
with spring water, and after drying up, it was smoked for a long
time in hot beech and alder
smoke until its colour turned
into golden russet. Next, the
ham was softened with water
vapour in a cauldron… We care
for that tradition in BACÓWKA.
We always carefully select the
raw meat for all products. Just
like in the past, while producing our cold and smoked meat,
we use only salt from Wieliczka or Bochnia and only natural
spices and herbs collected from
clean, ecological areas. The water is always spring, natural, of
course from our own spring.
Smoking is conducted in a traditional way, namely in beech or
alder smoke with some added
cherry, pear or juniper wood,
depending on the type of products. Duration of smoking also
differs and it can be from 12
to 71 hours, depending on the
product.”
Winter 2009/2010
BACÓWKA’s showcase are
traditional sausages, such as:
”swoja” (own sausage), ”wsiowa” (village sausage), ”pęto
dworskie” (courtyard sausage
ring), ”cielęca pikantna” (spicy
lamb sausage), as well as noble hams called e.g. ”szynka ze
wsi” (village ham), ”szlachecka”
(nobleman`s ham), ”biała”
(white ham), as well as ”szynka szołdra” (salted and smoked
ham) – the queen of hams, produced in line with an old Polish
recipe. There are also the following delicacies: ”polędwica
Maryny” (Maryna’s fillet), thin
sausages called ”gazdowski
ous fruit jams, juices, highlander
cheeses, e.g. »oscypek« and
»bryndza.« Shortly, the plant
will start the production of pancakes, home-made dumplings
and croquettes. Everything will
be home-like, prepared in line
with the traditional highlander recipes.”
It is worth noting that
BACÓWKA employs 40 people who are great specialists, real masters of butchery and experts in highlander cuisine. It sells its products
mainly domestically but some
purchasers send them further,
to foreign markets, for exam-
sznurek” and ”bocuś bacowski”
and a wide range of grill delicacies, various pates and giblets.
The company offers 15 delicious products of deer, boar
and roe deer of the ”Produkty
lasowe” (forest products) line
to game enthusiasts.
”Our company is going to
extend its market offer significantly not only with next meat
products,” adds Danuta Bigaj.
”We already have in our offer pickles and preserved cucumbers, mushrooms, horseradish, olive oil and olives, vari-
ple to Greece, Germany and
France. The goods are distributed mainly by the network
”Bacówka Towary Tradycyjne”
(Bacówka Traditional Goods),
but also by various external
purchasers. The network is
now in the stage of development by franchising. Currently, it has four own company trade points, in Kraków,
Brzesko and Katowice, and 6
shops opened in a franchisingsystem in Świeradów Zdrój,
Warsaw, Tarnów and Kraków.
The company is planning to
25
Regional Development
open some more franchise
shops by the end of 2010:
in Wrocław, Kraków, Warsaw,
Kielce, Legnica, Częstochowa
and Radom.
The company and franchise
shops are designed in a truly
highlander style in order to re-
flect the real local colour and
character of the region. It is important to encourage the client, delighted with the great
flavour of freshly roasted meat,
to visit BACÓWKA again and
again. The company also has
shops combined with a restau-
rant part, called ”Smak Baca”
(Taste of Baca), offering hot
meat roasted in a highlander
stove, fried ”oscypek” cheese,
black pudding with cabbage,
”bacowski bigos” (cabbage
with meat), highlander cheeses, honeys, original bread, veg-
etable and fruit preserves. It is
all tasty, aromatic and healthy
– yummy. It is impossible not
to taste it!
Antoni Radzewicz
Agency for Restructuring
and Modernization of Agriculture
Passionate Breeder
arcin Krzewiński from
Wełnica, near Gniezno,
(Wielkopolskie Voivodship)
dreamt of breeding beef cattle for years. He was particularly captivated by the beauty of uniformly red animals with
clear highlight of fur around the
eyes and on limbs of Limousine
breed. However, his life has verified these plans. For the last six
years, he has passionately committed himself to breeding cattle
of Charolais breed.
”A chance decided on that,”
says Marcin Krzewiński. ”After
graduation from the former Agriculture Academy in Poznań
(nowadays the Poznań University of Life Sciences) I had my apprenticeship in Dąbrówka, near
Mogilno. I met a great breeder
of Charolais cattle there, Jerzy
Makowski from Pędziłów, near
Złotniki Kujawskie, who convinced me of breeding that very
cattle. I bought 30 breeding heifers and a bull from him. I do not
regret that decision, it was a proverbial »bang on«. The breed
worked out well at our farm.
It is immune to diseases and
stress. It is characterized by fast
weight gaining. The cattle perfectly utilizes cheap and natural
farm feeding stuffs.”
”The whole herd of ours
spends its time at a pasture from
May to November,” explains
Marcin Krzewiński’s wife, Natalia, who holds a master’s degree
in zootechnics. ”It is fed mainly with green forage then. Within a normal vegetation course,
M
26
green forage and some straw is
enough to balance the dry component in the feeding stuff. The
additional feed is given only in
the last stage to the ones that are
meant for slaughter. At that time,
they get concentrates made only
of our own crops and hay instead of straw. In turn, in the au-
going to extend it. Therefore,
this year they have sold 15 heifers, 2 bull calves and 30 bulls to
be bread to other farmers.
”Our herd is cattle for
breeding,” says Krzewiński. ”All
animals are characterized by
perfect genetic potential, documented in breeding books. We
hectare farm, we are able to increase the quantity of beef cattle but we need further investments, in particular we should
extend the farm buildings.
”We could produce much
more own feeding stuffs if we
gave up cultivation of 80 hectares
of rape and devoted that area to
tumn, winter and early spring
period green forage is replaced
with silage made of corn or haysilage made of grass and clover. It is practically enough to
lead to weight gaining of about
1,400-1,500 g per day. One
and a half years old animals in
our farm weigh 700-750 kg.
They can be slaughtered then
but can also be grazed to a heavier weight – even over 1,000 kg
in case of bulls – with no fear
that the carcass will be fattened
extensively.”
The herd of the Krzewińskis
consists now of over 160 animals, including 70 mother cows.
So far, the breeders have considered that state as optimal and in
the following years they are not
are proud that our heifer ENVIEU became the champion
of the latest National Breeding
Animals Show in Poznań, and
the international Jury gave her
the First Prize. That popularized our breeding not only in
the Wielkopolska region but
also in other regions. Therefore, we get plenty of orders
for breeding material from various parts of the country. We
could sell a few times more
breeding cattle than now because in Poland in the last years
beef of noble breeds has been
more and more popular. The
number of foreign purchasers
– who appreciate the culinary
value of Polish beef – has also
been increasing. At our 250-
cultivation of feeding plants. But
we do not know what the market situation will be in the Polish
and European agriculture after
2013,” adds Tadeusz Krzewiński,
Marcin’s father, who assists his
successors in breeding.
”In the last years, we have
put huge efforts in investments
at our farm, utilizing our own
funds and due to the possibilities created by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture. The
purchase of all that beef cattle was financed with a credit for young farmers. We also
took a preferential credit with
subsidies to interest financed
by the Agency to buy 45 hectares of land. Moreover, we
Winter 2009/2010
Regional Development
used some funds of the activity »Modernization of agricultural farms« under the Rural Development Programme
for 2007-2013 co-financed by
the European Union. With-
in the framework of that activity, the purchase of a John
Deere tractor, a sprayer, a
combined cultivator and seed
drill, and a loader will be partly refunded.”
Therefore, the Krzewińskis
claim that without the financial support of the Agency and
their joint effort put into modernization of the farm, they
would have not been able to
reach the current level of production in such a short time.
Antoni Radzewicz
Agency for Restructuring
and Modernization of Agriculture
Porkers Live Short Lives
ho breeds pigs, will
not be lost,” says a
Polish folk proverb. However,
in practice things are different.
Only the best breeders can
count on profits and on satisfactory ones. That is the opinion of Grażyna and Stanisław
Prokopiuk from Dąbrowa
Dolna (Lubelskie Voivodship)
who have specialised in pig fattening for many years.
”The holding developed
mostly after our EU entry,”
emphasizes Mr Prokopiuk. ”In
the first year after the accession we bought another 10
hectares of land, and increased
our total area to 38 hectares.
In the years to follow we gave
up growing edible potatoes
and potato sets and focused
only on pig fattening. We concluded with the Meat Factory in Sokołów Podlaski a longterm agreement for the sale of
1,200 porkers yearly.”
”»Sokołów« turned out to
be a perfect contractor,” adds
Grażyna Prokopiuk, the owner’s wife. ”Every head is taken directly from the holding.
In the framework of the programme »Together in the future« the contractor equipped
our pigsties with auto-feeders
that decrease the use of feed,
but what is more significant
– they completely mechanise
feed administering. The meat
factory provides also specific cross-breed piglets which
guarantee fast weight increase
and good use of feed.
Since the Prokopiuks at
present have only 20 sows
”W
from which they obtain 420440 piglets every year, porkers
in this holding are bred mostly in an ”open” cycle. The rest,
that is 760-780, is supplied by
”Sokołów” from other breeders in the scope of the aforementioned ”Together in the
future” programme.
The Prokopiuks have their
farm on infertile soils, mainly
of the 5th and 6th class, that
is why the vast majority of the
area is intended for growing
corn which is used entirely as
feed for pigs. They grow only
varieties suitable for the quality of their soils. They keep the
reaped harvest in stores and
grain silos in which the quality
of stored grain is controlled by
electronic devices.
It is worth mentioning that
the holding is also provided
with: suitable manure storage pads, containers for liquid
manure and storehouse for
fertilisers, pesticides and fuel.
Therefore all the EU standards
are maintained. The breeder also has a proper feed production certificate issued by
the veterinary inspection. The
feed is made from their own
grain, soy pellets and farmer premixes originating from
the best feed producers. Pigs
in pigsty are supplied with automated ventilation, proper temperature and any other veterinary requirements,
full amount of delicious feed
in auto-feeders and water in
nipple drinkers. The veterinarian supervises proper prevention. Owing to that pork-
Winter 2009/2010
ers reach 110-115 kg within
5-6 months. They live short
but stress-free lives in perfect
conditions. Their carcass is of
the highest quality due to the
50% of the cost incurred on
investments carried out within the Sectoral Operational Programme »Restructuring and modernisation of the
meat content which fluctuates
around 58-60%.
The Prokopiuks admit that
they owe the intensive development of the holding to
the efficient use of aid programmes offered by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture.
”We managed to increase
our holding thanks to the loan
for land purchase with interest rate subventions provided
by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture,” explains the breeder. ”Also from the funds of
the soft loan – from the line
of young farmers – we built a
modern pigsty and equipped it
completely with all devices ensuring full automation.
”We obtained a subsidy
from the EU which covered
food sector and development
of rural areas, 2004-2006«,”
adds Grażyna Prokopiuk.
”We bought, among others, a
10HP tractor, front loader, disk
harrow and 4-furrow plough.
And we also benefited from
the Rural Development Policy 2007-2013 – from the initiative »Modernisation of farms«
– when we purchased a rolling press, an eight-tone muck
spreader and a modern fertilizer spreader.”
Accomplishments of the
Prokopiuks encourage to further developing of the holding
and implementing even more
modern forms of production
in pig fattening development.
Antoni Radzewicz
Agency for Restructuring
and Modernization of Agriculture
27
Regional Development
he Lisiecka sausage
is one of the most
popular traditional
cold meat products from
Małopolska. Its name comes
from the town of Liszki situated near Cracow. The Lisiecka
sausage has been produced in
the districts of Czernichów
and Liszki since the 1930s.
T
History and prestige
of the Lisiecka sausage
Animal breeding and cold meat
production in the Małopolska
region have a centuries-old tradition, going back to the Middle Ages. Already in that peri-
28
od in Cracow craftsmen formed
guilds, occupied with animal
slaughter and meat processing.
The Cracow craftsmen bought
pork in the surrounding villages, while cattle was imported from distant, eastern areas.
Since no ways of meat preservation were known, live animals were driven to Cracow.
The so-called ”beef route”
was running via Liszki
and Czernichów districts
by the end of the 17th
century.
In the early 17th century, free
markets started to develop in
Polish cities, at which craftsmen who were not members of
the guilds could sell their products. This opportunity was
used by butchers from villages
situated near Cracow, many of
whom came from the surroundings of Liszki and
Czernichów.
Since the
Winter 2009/2010
Regional Development
second half of the 19th century these towns have constituted the second – behind Cracow
– centre of cold meat production in the Cracow area. The
Lisiecka sausage was the most
popular and valued product
of local butchers. This was a
specific kind of ”Cracow” sausage, thickly cut sausage, characterized by its ingredients and
unique recipe of preparation.
When in the times of World
War II craft was suf-fer-
repressive measures. Despite
these difficulties, butchers from
the surroundings of Liszki and
Czernichów continued to produce the Lisiecka sausage and
illicitly sold it at markets or at
homes. They could not complain about the lack of clients,
since at that time it was difficult to buy any meat products. All the more, the Lisiecka
sausage – famous for its taste
and quality – was very popular among consumers.
After this time, sausage is
taken to a room where it is
cooled down.
Unique features
of the Lisiecka sausage
The Lisiecka sausage is produced from high-quality meat,
obtained from the most delicate
pork muscles, mainly gammon.
Most of meat used for the production is thickly chopped, thus
after cutting one can clearly see
Regional Product:
The Lisiecka Sausage
iing
ng ffrom
rom ccrisis,
risis, bbutchutcheers
rs from
from Czernichów
Czernichów
and Liszki were forced
to work secretly, expo-sing themselves
to confiscations and
fines. They kept the
Lisiecka sausage recipe secret. Just after the war, local
butchers restarted
the production and
sale of traditional
cold meats. However, the situation did
not last long. The
so-called
socialist
economy, fun-ctioning in Poland since
the early 1950s and
centrally steered, prevented people from running private operations. At
that time, production of cold
meats was entrusted solely to
state production plants, whereas people taking any type of
operations leading to private
production were exposed to
Winter 2009/2010
Great
G
reat prestige
prestige of
of the
the Lisiecka
Lisiecka
ssausage
ausage can
can be
be proved
proved by
by
numerous records in tourist guides describing the surroundings of Cracow, as well
as by prizes received in many
competitions.
Traditional
production method
Meat used for the production
of the Lisiecka sausage should
first undergo the process of
corning. Next, thickly cut pieces of meat are mixed with garlic, pepper and minced meat.
The obtained mass is tightly
filled into skins, forming single
strings. Sausage in the strings
is put up on smoke sticks in
warm and airy place. Then,
it is taken to a smoke house.
Smoking of the Lisiecka sausage is a three-stage process,
composed of drying, proper
smoking and roasting, while
the whole process lasts approximately 3.5-4.5 hours.
w
hole ppieces
ieces ooff m
eat ssurroundurroundwhole
meat
eedd bbyy a m
ore m
inced sstuffing.
tuffing
more
minced
A characteristic feature of the
Lisiecka sausage is its big diameter. Therefore, according
to local tradition, for its production only natural beef guts
were used, nowadays being
sometimes replaced by protein
skins.
The sausage's taste is dominated by seasoned pork meat
with a delicate aroma of pepper
and garlic.
Smoking of the Lisiecka sausage takes place in traditional smoking chambers, where
smoke and warmth come from
burned wood of broadleaf trees
– alder, beech or fruit trees,
which gives the sausage specific smell and taste. A natural
way of smoking also influences
the sausage look, giving it dark
brown, slightly shiny colour.
Department of Agricultural
Markets, Geographical
Indications Divisions
29
Regional Development
he Pod
Podkarpackie Voivodship is located in
the south
south-eastern part
of Poland. In the west it
borders o
on Małopolskie
Voivodship, in the north on
Świętokrzys
Świętokrzyskie and Lubelskie Voivo
Voivodships. In the
east, it has a border with
Ukraine, an
and in the south –
with Slovak
Slovakia.
Geograp
Geographically, the majority of the Voivodship belongs to P
Podkarpacie with
Low Beskid
Beskids and Bieszczady Mountai
Mountains.
The Pod
Podkarpacie land is
interesting not only due to
its tourist aand natural qualities, but als
also due to its rich
historical p
past. It is located
Carpathians gate, on
at the Carp
a territory of multicultural
Resulting from historroots. Resu
political decisions varical politica
cultures and influencious culture
been mixed here,
es have be
influencing the present-day
image of th
the Voivodship.
The Bie
Bieszczady Mountains are a region with specific landsca
landscape and history.
Today this tterritory is one of
the least uurbanized regions
in Poland. Post-war decisions conc
concerning resettlements chan
changed the majority of Bieszc
Bieszczady Mountains,
their local vvillages and settlements. Larg
Large destitute land
T
Unforgettable Holidays
– Podkarpackie Voivodship
Bieszczady
and the Bie
eszczady Nationcreated in 1973 with
al Park crea
the surface of almost 30
constithousand hectares
h
perfect habitat for nutute a perfe
animals. There are
merous ani
large beasts – brown bears
wolves. On the most
and wolves
30
Winter 2009/2010
Regional Development
important summits there is
a level of mountain meadows with rare plants characteristic for the Eastern Carpathians. It is a perfect place
for walks, observing wild nature and relaxing away from
noisy cities and crowds of
people.
In fact the whole territory of Podkarpacie belongs
to one of the most attractive tourist locations in Poland. Agro-tourist households developing here and
services made tourists visit this region more willingly
and more often. It is worth
mentioning that on this land
the petroleum industry was
born. To learn its history it
is worthwhile to take a trip
in the Petroleum Train International Tourist Trail. One
of the villages on the trail is
Bóbrka. Here, in 1854 the
first in the world oil mine
was opened. Moreover, the
trail consists of operating
objects, where old mining
machinery is still in use. In
Krosno, on the other hand,
it is worth to visit the Podkarpackie Museum, where
the most impressive, most
numerous collection of oil
the biggest in Poland pottery
centre was located. In the
second half of the 19th century there were almost 120
Enthusiasts of the adventures of this soldier, living in
Austro-Hungary times can
sit on a bench next to the fa-
lamps in Europe is located. It is not the only trail in
Podkarpacie. Another one is
the Pottery Trail. In Medynia
Głogowska and local villages
pottery workshops operating there.
Sanok is a town cut by a
leg of the international Trail
of Good Soldier Schweik.
mous soldier in Sanok. The
Polish leg of the trail is 150
km long.
Talking of army, its fans
have one more interesting
Winter 2009/2010
31
Regional Development
32
Winter 2009/2010
Regional Development
Winter 2009/2010
33
Regional Development
tourist trail to choose from
– it is the Nadwiślańskie
Bunkers Trail. It runs along
the San River, from Bóbrka by the already mentioned
Sanok, Dynów and Krasi
czyn. It is one of the most interesting and the biggest defensive axes of World War II.
In Stępin, in the Strzyżowskie
county, there is Hitler’s bunker, unique in Europe.
Another tourist attraction
is the Greenway Trail. As described in tourist guides, it is
the trail of natural-cultural
heritage at a location where
three countries meet: Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia,
around the first in the world
three-sided International
Biosphere Reserve ”Eastern
Carpathians.”
Truly exceptional and most
interesting trail is the Wooden Architecture Trail. When
we follow it, we can see
unique objects of old architecture, in its majority comprising Orthodox churches
and Roman-Catholic churches. In total it comprises 127
first dates back to the 15th
century it is a church in Haczów. It is not only the old-
ground cellars and corridors
in Rzeszów. Their construction took years and they
visited are health resorts in
Horyniec, Polańczyk, Iwonicz and Rymanów Zdrój.
est wooden church in Poland, but also the largest
gothic wooden church in
the world. The second is
the presbytery complex in
Blizne, with a church from
the 16th century.
Winter season and winter
sports lovers should also visit
this region. There are ski lifts
prepared especially for them
as well as interesting routes
for cross-country skiing.
When we travel taking
one of the numerous routes,
visiting and relaxing, it is a
good time to learn more
about food specialties of this
region. Many of them are
already on the Traditional
Products List. It is impossible to name all of them,
but we can mention some
of them for encouragement
– ”panepuchy,” ”kacapoły”
or ”kręgle,” ”pamuła glinicka,” ”kruszon,” ”lasowiackie spirits” made from cranberry or quince, or pork
haunch roasted with bone,
and many many others. The
best way to learn about
them is to visit the Podkarpackie Land.
objects. It has to be mentioned that two of them are
on the UNESCO list. The
Those who visit Podkarpacie will be also interested in the complex of under-
served the contemporary
citizens as shops, warehouses and production plants.
The Underground Tourist
Trail leads the visitors under
the tenement houses and
the Market.
When travelling through
the Podkarpacie land and admiring its tourist and landscape qualities, we also come
across magnificent castles
and palaces. We cannot skip
the renaissance Leszczyński
Palace in Baranów Sandomierski, the Lubomirski
Palace and the Potocki Palace in Łańcut together with
unique carriage hall and magnificent park, or one of the
most beautiful castles in Europe – the Krasicki Castle in
Krasiczyn.
However, this is not all
that Podkarpacie has to offer.
Health resorts are also worth
mentioning, their qualities
come from rich sources of
mineral waters and therapeutic peat resources. The
best known and most often
34
Dariusz Mamiński
Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development
Winter 2009/2010
Producers-Exporters
More Products with the Discover
Great Food Quality Mark
A
lready more than six
hundred food products
have been granted the ”Discover Great Food” quality
mark. During a ceremonial gala held on 7 December
Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development Marek
Sawicki presented producers with marks for 223
of dumplings (pierogi, knedle
etc.), pancakes and salads,
deep-frozen food, chocolate
products, bakery and confectionery products, teas and alcohol products – beer, vodka, liqueur and tincture.
During the ceremony
Marek Sawicki said that food
was a Polish asset. He empha-
ian and Belorussian markets.
We are also engaging in intensive activities striving for further, more demanding and interesting markets. An increasing agricultural production in
Europe has forced us to look
for consumers outside Europe. We would like to have
our products with the ”Dis-
mined by a Scientific Board for
quality of food products. The
Board is composed of outstanding scientists and experts
in the domain of agricultural production, processing and
human nutrition.
The mark is placed on packaging with the information for
consumers that a given prod-
new products. They included dairy products – mould
and fried cheese, flavoured
cheese, buttermilk, cream,
kefir, eggs, sweets – boxes
of chocolates, bars of chocolate, chocolates and candies,
honey, fresh and processed
fruit and vegetables, mushroom, concentrates, cold
meats – ham, sausage, roast
meat, smoked bacon, gourmet food – different kinds
sized that in agri-food trade
we recorded a positive balance of approximately EUR
2 billion, while in other sectors of the economy the balance was negative. Twenty
percent of our export is constituted by food products, and
80% of them are sent to the
European Union markets. We
strive for the third markets.
We have improved our relations with the Russian, Ukrain-
cover Great Food” mark on
Chinese, Korean, Singaporean and Vietnamese markets.
There they will defend themselves by their quality.
The ”Discover Great Food”
programme was initiated in
2004. The right to use the
”Discover Great Food” mark
on packaging is granted by
the Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development to goods
which meet the criteria deter-
uct meets the highest criteria
of quality, production conditions and materials used.
Marking a product with the
logo is a valuable form of promotion and a perfect marketing instrument that is readily used by producers. For
consumers this recognizable
mark is the information that
a product that they chose has
both the highest quality and
taste parameters.
Winter 2009/2010
35
Producers-Exporters
Goverment
Producers and Their Products Granted
the Discover Great Food Quality Mark
The main goal of the Discover Great Food
Programme, started on 1 May 2004, is
to provide information about the high
quality of food products. Participation in
the programme is voluntary and the programme is addressed to agri-food industry entrepreneurs from all the member
states of the European Union.
Products which meet the criteria developed by the Scientific
Council for Food Products Quality are awarded a Discover
Great Food quality mark. Labelling with this quality mark
is to help the consumer choose products of high and consistent quality.
The products awarded a Discover Great Food quality mark
also include those which can be called functional food. Some
of them and their producers are presented below.
BONA Sp. z o.o.
BONA specializes in the
production of high quality mayonnaises, mayonnaise
and tomato sauces, as well as
ketchups which satisfy special
requirements of the industry.
Owing to excellent parameters all company products
can be used in various salads,
vegetable salads, fish, cold
meat, etc. The company has
in its offer also products such
as may-onnaises, ketchups,
sauces, mustards, vegetable
pickles in packages adapted
to catering requirements.
The company has implemented ISO 9001 Quality Management System
and HACCP system, which
guarantee safety and quality of products. The quality of company products has
been confirmed by awarding the PDŻ – ”Discover
Great Food” quality mark to
eight BONA products. The
awarded products include:
• traditional mayonnaise
– mayonnaise of cream,
thick consistency and traditional flavour. Ideal for
cold and hot dishes (for
roasting). Without any
preservatives and food
dyes,
36
• traditional light mayon-
•
•
•
•
•
•
naise – mayonnaise with
reduced amount of fat.
Light consistency and delicate flavour,
traditional spicy mayonnaise – mayonnaise having original spicy flavour.
Ideal for salads and sandwiches. It does not contain any preservatives and
food dyes,
Sarepta mustard – mustard of refined, distinctive
flavour. It does not contain any preservatives and
food dyes,
Kremska mustard – mild,
a bit sweet,
table mustard – traditional table mus-tard, moderately spicy, of a cream
colour and creamy
consistency,
horseradish mustard –
delicious mustard with
horseradish, of characteristic spicy flavour and
aroma,
Zbójnicka mustard –
spicy and aromatic. Excellent for cold snacks
and for barbecue. It does
not contain any preservatives and food dyes.
Zakłady Spożywcze
BONA Sp. z o.o.
ul. Fabryczna 9A
18-400 Łomża, Poland
Phone: (+48) 86 216 01 71
Fax: (+48) 86 216 01 85
www.bonavita.com.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
Winter 2009/2010
Producers-Exporters
Goverment
Dega S.A.
DEGA is a company
which has several years of
tradition. Since 1999, it has
been a supported employment enterprise and since
2008 it has been a jointstock company.
The company specializes in the production of
vegetable, meat and herring salads, and in the fish
processing industry. The
consumers may choose
from among over 100
products offered by the
company: mayonnaise salads, fish in jelly, fried fish in
various sauces, wide range
of herring preserves.
Owing to its consistent development policy, the company meets
the requirements necessary to be competitive on
the European market. In
April 2009, the company
successfully completed the
next audit certifying the implemented and employed
Integrated Quality Management System for the conformity with IFS requirements version 5 and with
BRC version 5. These certificates give consumers a
guarantee that they get safe
products of invariably high
quality. It is confirmed by
the fact that four company
products have again been
awarded the PDŻ – ”Discover Great Food” quality mark. These products
include:
• Polish salad – traditional, Polish vegetable salad, prepared according to a traditional home recipe, containing pasteurized vegetables: potatoes, green peas, carrots, cucumbers, onions, with
•
•
•
a bit of mayonnaise and
spices,
mild herring salad –
main ingredients include a classic marinated herring filet and
pasteurized vegetables:
potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, onions. All
ingredients are cut in
cubes, sprinkled with a
pinch of original spices,
with a bit of delicious
mayonnaise,
salad with ham – one
of several salads with
meat which are in the
company’s offer, it has
a characteristic, ditinct,
unique taste. It is an
innovative version of
a vegetable salad with
ham, produced on the
basis of pasteurized
vegetables: potatoes,
carrots, green peas and
cucumbers,
Greek style fish (herring) – juicy fillet with
delicious, crunchy vegetables and aromatic
sauce.
DEGA S.A.
Karnieszewice 5
76-004 Sianów, Poland
Phone: (+48) 94 361 51 00
Fax: (+48) 94 361 51 05
5
www.dega.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
Winter 2009/2010
37
Producers-Exporters
So
okołów
w S..A.
SOKOŁÓW S.A. is a
g
group
of seven big, stateof-the-art production facilo
iities: in Sokołów Podlaski,
Czyżew, Koło, Jarosław,
C
Tarnów,
T
Dębica
and
Robaków near Poznań. It
R
aalso includes subsidiaries:
””Agro-Sokołów” with its
tthree big agricultural and
bbreeding farms, ”SokołówEExport”, ”Sokołów-Service”
aand ”Sokołów-Logistyka.”
The ”Sokołów” Group
hhas significant production
ccapacities, enabling dailly production of ca. 1,200
ttonnes of high quality produucts. State-of-the-art technnologies, high quality raw
materials and perfect recm
iipes guarantee that produucts offered by the Group
meet the highest quality and
m
hhealth standards.
All production facilities of
””Sokołów” Group produce
iin compliance with a good
pproduction practice, under
tthe permanent supervision
o
of the Veterinary Inspection.
The company has all necesT
ssary certificates confirming
ssanitary standards and the
qquality of production, includiing, inter alia, ISO 9001 and
H
HACCP Quality Managem
ment Systems and quality
ccertificate issued by EFSIS.
As a result, and thanks to
cconsistently realized trade
aand marketing strategy, the
””Sokołów” brand has currrently the best recognition
rresults on the Polish meat
m
market. As the Group prodduction facilities are placed
iin different parts of Poland
aand the extensive sales netw
work covers all distributtion channels, including the
G
Group’s own modern netw
work, products of Sokołów
38
brand are available in the
whole country. Export plays
a very important role in the
Group’s business activity, as
its products are highly valued also by foreign clients.
On the average, ca. 2530% of the total sales goes
to the EU markets, as well
as to the markets in the
United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
Products by ”Sokołów”
Group have been awarded
the PDŻ – ”Discover Great
Food” quality mark, which
confirms their high quality. In
2009 the mark was awarded to:
• classic DELICATESSEN franks (produced
by the Meat Processing Plant ”Farm Food” in
Czyżew),
• SOKOŁÓW frankfurters
(Meat Processing Plant
”Farm Food”),
• ham from a smokehouse (produced by the
Meat Processing Plant
”Jarosław” in Jarosław),
• loin from a smokehouse
(Meat Processing Plant
”Jarosław”),
• ”swojska” roast ham
(Meat Processing Plant
”Jarosław”),
• thatch sausage (product made by Sokołów
Meat Processing Plant in
Sokołów Podlaski),
• Italian ham (Sokołów
Meat Processing Plant in
Sokołów Podlaski).
SOKOŁÓW S.A.
ul. Bukowińska 22B
02-703 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: (+48) 22 525 82 50
Fax: (+48) 22 840 39 39
www.sokolow.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
Winter 2009/2010
Producers-Exporters
Confectionery Company SOLIDARNOŚĆ Sp. z o.o.
SOLIDARNOŚĆ is a
company with over 50-year
history.
Combining
tradition
with modern management
methods, SOLIDARNOŚĆ
has created a strong brand
thanks to which it has a significant position on a highly competitive market. The
quality of the company’s
products is its most important capital achieved thanks
to the company’s own recipes and to modern technology, as well as owing to
conducting business activity
in compliance with international quality management
standards.
The company’s products are distinguished by an
unlimited range of flavours
and a colourful, aesthetically pleasing and attractive
graphic layout.
Numerous prizes awarded to Firma Cukiernicza
Solidarność confirm the high
quality of its products. In
2009, nine products were
awarded the PDŻ – ”Discover Great Food” quality mark:
• Chocolate Dancing Stars: • Chocolate box ”Choco- • Golden Nut – chocolates
•
•
•
caramel, coffee and cream,
orange filling – a collection of pralines which are
a unique combination of
three kinds of chocolate:
dessert – with velvetysmooth cream and coffee
cream filling, milk and dessert with caramel cream
filling and white and dessert chocolate with orange cream filling,
Chocolate Dancing Stars
coffee andd cream filling,
Chocolatee Dancing Stars
eam filling,
orange cream
Chocolatee box ”Chocolate Satisfaction”
action” – a collection off pralines with
creams of classic flavours in three different kinds
nds
of chocoolate: des-sert, milkk
and whitee
chocolate,,
•
•
•
late Creations” – a collection of pralines with velvety-smooth cream fillings in milk, dessert and
white chocolate,
Toffino – pralines filled
with toffee cream,
Nałęczowska Plum in
chocolate – candied
plums in cocoa filling,
covered in dessert chocolate, made for the last
fifty years according to a
traditional recipe,
Cherries in Liqueur –
chocolates with cherry in
cherry liqueur,
with hazelnut in velvetysmooth hazelnut cream
filling.
Firma Cukiernicza
SOLIDARNOŚĆ Sp. z o.o.
ul. Gospodarcza 25
20-211 Lublin, Poland
Phone: (+48) 81 746 37 37
Fax: (+48) 81 746 16 14
www.solidarnosc.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
Top s.c.
TOP is a company which
has been active on the Polish
market of dairy products for
19 years. It has always based
on tradition, where quality
and taste constitute priorities. Each batch of cheese is
examined in the company’s
chemical laboratory. For 5
years the company has been
on a list of processing plants
which have implemented
the HACCP system.
Fried cheese was the
first product manufactured
by the company and since
then, TOP has been continuously launching new products on the market.
Products which were
awarded the PDŻ – ”Discover Great Food” quality
mark include:
• natural fried cheese,
• fried cheese with cumin
Winter 2009/2010
Top s.c.
Huszczak, Humerczyk
Rataje – Os. Dębowe 23
64-800 Chodzież, Poland
Phone/fax: (+48) 67 282 14 35
Phone: (+48) 602 112 770
www.topsery.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
339
Producers-Exporters
Silesian Distillery of Brand Vodkas
POLMOS S.A.
Silesian Distillery of Brand
V
Vodkas POLMOS is a leading
pproducer of alcohol products
in Poland in terms of both
qquantity and quality. The
pproducts of Silesian ”Polmos”
aare also exported to Germanny, the Czech Republic, Slovvakia, Italy, France, Belgium,
G
Great Britain, the USA, Chinna, Australia and Ecuador.
T
The company does not only
eexport its products but also
pproduces them upon order
o
of foreign clients.
In 2004, the plant implem
mented the HACCP system,
aand in 2008 the company
w
was granted a certificate confifirming compliance with the
nnorms ISO 9001.
Among a wide range of
products, three have been
awarded the PDŻ – ”Discover Great Food” quality mark,
namely:
• advocaat 25%, made
only of natural ingredients: fresh hen egg yolks,
vanilla, wine distillate and
rectified spirit. A great additive to drinks, cakes,
ice-cream and coffee,
• Passover slivovitz 70%,
a unique spirit product,
composed of fruit spirit obtained from the best
quality garden plums.
Owing to the implementation of a multiyear process of seasoning in oak
barrels, the product gains
•
the characteristic features
of the noblest drinks: light
amber colour, specific
natural taste and intensive
plum aroma,
cherry liqueur with rum
35%, a liqueur that has taste
and aroma features of cherries and a beautiful cherry
colour. It is made of cherry
juice, cherry tincture and a
small amount of rum.
Śląska Wytwórnia Wódek
Gatunkowych Polmos S.A.
ul. Karpacka 11
43-316 Bielsko-Biała, Poland
Phone: (+48) 33 812 43 02
Fax: (+48) 33 818 75 84
www.polmos.bielsko.pl
[email protected]
Dobrosława sp. z o.o.
Meat processing plant
D
DOBROSŁAWA came into
eexistence in 2005 as a ressult of transformation of
D
Dobrosława Cooperative in
SSława – a meat processin
ing plant with a 60-year
ttradition.
DOBROSŁAWA produces
e over 140 assortments of
meat
m
products, based on
high
h
quality pork and poultry
t meat material provide by trusted local farmers.
ed
Unique
U
taste values of our
products
p
result from using
in traditional recipes combined
b
with many years of
experience.
e
Quality control
t at all stages of production
t
guarantees high quality
of
o products and satisfaction
40
of consumers. The company holds authorizations for
production and export of
meat products: pork, beef
and poultry, in accordance
with implemented certificates and quality standards:
ISO 9001: 2001, HACCP,
18001:2004, ISO 14001:
2005.
Cold meat and meat produced by DOBROSŁAWA is
renowned and appreciated
by consumers for their high
quality and unique taste.
Three out of a wide variety
of our products have recently been awarded the PDŻ –
”Discover Great Food” quality mark:
• country cottage ham –
carefully chosen meat,
•
•
natural spices and a traditional way of smoking
give it unique taste and
aesthetic values,
Cracow dry sausage from
Dobrosława – pork sausage classified among dry
sausages,
”geesowska” sausage –
dried, tender sausage,
which has a strong smell
of smoke and of traditional spices (garlic and
marjoram).
Dobrosława Sp. z o.o.
ul. Przemysława 6
67-410 Sława, Poland
Phone: (+48) 68 356 62 52
Fax: (+48) 68 356 76 02
www.dobroslawa.pl
[email protected]
Winter 2009/2010
Food Safety
ood safety
safe (as defined
under the
th Act of 2006)
comprises all
a conditions that
have to be fulfilled, regarding in particular
part
the used
additives and
an aromas, the
level of pollutants,
po
residues of plant protection substances, conditions
con
of food
radiation, physical
p
features
and actions that have to
be taken at
a all stages of
production and turnover in
food in order
ord to protect
human health
healt and life.
Risk analysis
analy is nowadays
the basis for each food safety strategy. Both the recommendations
ommendatio of the FAO/
WHO Food
Foo Code (the
Uruguay Treaty
Tr
– WTO,
1995) and the
t main norms
of the European
Union, inEurop
cluding the Directive of the
European Parliament
and of
Pa
the Council No. 178/2002
of 28 January
Janua 2002 laying
down the general principles and requirements
re
of
e
food law, establishing
the
F
European Food
Safety Authority and laying down
procedures in matters of
food safety, relate to printh three-stage
ciples of that
(ris assessment,
process (risk
manage
risk management,
and risk
communicat
communication).
Risk ass
assessment is a
p
four-stage process:
hazards
identification hazards charidentification,
h
acteristics, hazards
assessr characterisment and risk
thes stages of risk
tics. All these
F
Quality and Safety of Food
of Animal Origin
assessment require both
thoro
very thorough
research
(experiment monitoring)
(experimental,
scientifi staff’s expert
and scientific
Winter 2009/2010
W
41
Food Safety
knowledge used directly in
practice in the form of opinions and processes, which
very often are and will be
used for current administrative and consumer health
protection decisions.
The system of the Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control
Points – HACCP – is an important element of the food
safety strategy, in particular
at the stage of its production
and storage. The obligation
to implement the principle
of hazard analysis and assessment of food risk was
introduced in the European Union in 1996 (Council
Directive No. 93/43/EEC).
The experience of the last
years, including results of official inspections control, indicate that the implementation of the HACCP system brought a significant
improvement of quality of
food produced in Poland.
An important element
of the food safety strategy is the Rapid Alert System
for Food and Feed (RASFF),
which gives access to the list
of products posing a threat
to human and animal health
to bodies of official food
control in the whole European Union.
In the times of intensive
production of food of animal
origin (world meat production of over 250 million tons
per year), it is hard to find a
product that does not contain chemical residues or is
completely free from microbiological pollutants. One of
the basic actions ensuring
safe quality of food is constant control over the presence of harmful and pathogenic pests, bacteria, viruses
and prions.
Constant improvements
in testing methods and control programmes signifi42
cantly decrease consumers’
hazard.
The detection of some
chemical substances itself or
a single bacterium presence,
often on the brink of detectability of the used methods, cannot be the reason
for disqualification of food.
Therefore, we need to define the value limits safe for
people. Their definition was
left to science. Only and exclusively the results of scientific research can be the
basis for administrative and
legal decisions concerning
approval of some defined
limits.
Chemical residues’
control in food
Chemical residues’ control in food does not only
mean protection of consumer health but also the
fulfillment of the international food trade requirements being in force. Currently, only food of animal
origin is included in a very
broad and complex programme of testing. In the
EU states, there are uniform and new principles of
organization and conducting chemical residue control in animal tissues, food of
animal origin, in water and
feed, which are referred to
in the Council Directive No.
96/23/EC of 29 April 1996.
In Poland, the legal basis for
residue control in food of
animal origin in line with the
above mentioned Directive
is the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of 29 August 2006.
In 2004, the national veterinary programme of control testing for residues in
animal tissues and food
was considered in line with
the Council Directive No.
96/23/EC and approved by
the European Union.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Veterinary Inspection are in charge of
realization of residues testing programme. From the
very beginning of such tests
in Poland, that is for almost 40 years, the National Veterinary Research Institute in Puławy (NVRI) has
performed the coordinator function, and it has also
been the National Referential Laboratory for 5 years.
The assumptions of the residue testing programme, its
plan and results are elaborated on in NVRI in Puławy
and approved by the Chief
Veterinary Officer. Then
they are accepted by the
European Commission.
Residue control testing is
conducted in the Department of Pharmacology and
Toxicology and the Department of Hygiene of Food
of Animal Origin of NVRI
in Puławy and in 8 Departments of Veterinary Hygiene
(DVH Białystok, Gdańsk,
Katowice, Łódź, Olsztyn,
Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław).
An important element of
the conducted research is to
ensure quality and reliability of analytical procedures
implemented in the laboratories. NVRI in Puławy and
the laboratories of DVH
taking part in testing were
granted accreditation in the
Polish Centre of Accreditation (PCA) in 2004-2005.
The Institute, as the National Referential Laboratory, established an active
programme of ensuring research quality.
In the national programme
of residue control testing,
there are about 28,000
tests conducted every year
(Tab. 10, page 59). Samples for testing are collected from pigs, cattle, horses,
sheep, poultry (hens, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese),
fish, rabbits, game and cow
milk, eggs and honey (Tab.
13, page 60). The scope
of conducted trials involves
over 170 compounds, from
the forbidden compounds of
anabolic character from the
A group (hormones, tyreostatics) to veterinary medicinal products and environment pollutants (metals,
pesticides) included in the B
group. Only 0.47% of analysed samples were considered incompliant with the
regulations in force. Such a
small percentage of positive
samples allows for a very
positive assessment of food
of animal origin as regards
threats posed by dangerous
chemical residues.
In Poland, like in the
whole European Union, it is
forbidden to use compounds
having anabolic impact on
fattening slaughter animals.
Testing for hormone and
tyreostatics residues practically does not detect the
use of these compounds in
Poland. With regard to hormones, the single detected
positive results did not relate to derivatives of natural
hormones.
With regard to residues of veterinary medicinal products, no presence
of most tested veterinary
medications was detected,
including the ones forbidden
in veterinary practice and
breeding (nitrofurans, nitroimidazoles, beta-agonists,
neuroleptics, anthelmintics
– benzimidazoles, avermectins – and anti-inflammatory medications). Chloramfenicol (an antibiotic not
Winter 2009/2010
Food Safety
allowed in use for food animals) was detected only in
1-3 samples from over 2
thousand tested ones.
Residues of other antibacterial medicines were
detected in about 0.4%
samples tested with that regard. Antimicrobial drug residues are the compounds
most commonly detected
in monitoring testing conducted in all European Union states.
An in-depth assessment
of tests regarding environmental pollutants (pesticides,
polychlorinated biphenyls –
PCB, toxic elements) indicated the presence of low
concentrations of such compounds, often at the level
of detectability of the used
analytical methods. Despite
the common detection of
chloroorganic pesticides (>
70%) and PCB (> 50%),
their concentrations were
most often at the level of
the hundredth and thousandth parts of mg/kg, which
constitutes only a few percent of limit values for these
compounds.
Also, the concentrations
of lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in muscles
of tested animals and in
milk, eggs and honey were
that low.
Microbiological
food control
Except for the chemical
residue control described
above, an important element of food safety is also
a guarantee of their proper microbiological state related to the lack of biological
factors, particularly to pathogenic or potentially pathogenic bacteria and pests.
These factors still constitute
the most frequent source
of human foodborne diseases, both in Poland and
in the other EU states. All
the EU member states and
some other states under the
rule of voluntary consent
(e.g. Switzerland, Norway,
Island) are obliged by the
Directive 2003/99/EC of 17
November 2003 to conduct tests i.e. of food of
animal origin for the presence of unwanted biological
factors. The data are then
collected and processed by
EFSA, which issues an annual report on zoonoses and
microbiological food contamination factors, as well
as human foodborne diseases. A representative of NRVI
in Puławy is a standing member of a relevant advisory
panel of EFSA.
In order to increase the
level of public health protection and avoid discrepancies in the interpretation
of the obtained results of
microbiological food tests,
harmonized safety criteria
were defined regarding the
assessment of foodstuffs, in
particular with regard to the
presence of some defined
pathogenic microorganisms.
The criteria are referred to
in the Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1441/2007 of
5 December 2007.
Food safety is guaranteed mostly by preventive
approach, e.g. implementation of good hygienic practice and use of the HACCP
procedures. In accordance
with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on
the hygiene of foodstuffs,
food producers and distributors are obliged to comply
with microbiological criteria. It should include testing
a given number and types of
samples, and the obtained
results should constitute a
Winter 2009/2010
basis for the implementation
of corrective or preventive
measures.
Alike the case of marking chemical residues, also
microbiological tests of food
are conducted by highly
qualified personnel of the
Veterinary Inspection Laboratories or other laboratories certified to conduct
government tests. These
laboratories confirm their
competences by having accreditation of the Polish
Centre of Accreditations,
and by participation in proficiency tests (PT) organized
and supervised by the National Referential Laboratories (NRL) located in NVRI
in Puławy. On the other
hand, the NRLs are also assessed by the PCA as they
participate in PTs conducted
by the Community Referential Laboratories (CRL).
The results of food tests
conducted in the Department of Hygiene of Food
of Animal Origin of NVRI in
2004-2007 are presented
in Table 12, page 59. They
indicate that only a small
percentage of samples did
not fulfil the valid microbiological criteria. The number
of such samples, however, has decreased systematically over the years and
single positive results regarded presence of Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and a number of
coagulase-positive Staphylococcus. In 2007, there was
only one sample detected
that did not fulfil the criteria defined by the Commission Regulation (EC) No.
1441/2007. We can, therefore, ascertain that from
the microbiological point of
view the tested food was
safe and did not pose hazard to consumers.
An important role in ensuring consumer safety is
played in Poland and other
EU member states by monitoring programmes that enable definition of presence of
selected pathogenic or potentially pathogenic microorganisms in food animals.
In the last years, such programmes regarded marking
presence of Salmonella bacilli in poultry and swine, as
well as the thermotolerant
Campylobacter in broilers and
chicken carcasses. The tests
help to define the possible
level of threat to consumers’
health posed by the above
mentioned microbiological
factors, which is an important
element of food safety strategy, taking into consideration
the risk analysis and ”fieldto-table” approach. Moreover, the monitoring microbiological tests conducted in
our country on a large scale
ensure that food is safe for
the public health, both in the
country and at the Community level.
Chemical residue testing and microbiological control in food of animal origin, conducted every year
by the National Veterinary
Research Institute in Puławy
and the regional laboratories of DVH, allow for considering that food safe for
a consumer. The elaborated national veterinary programme of control testing of
food of animal origin is adjusted up-to-date to the requirements of the European Commission, and guarantees Poland full access to
world food markets.
Prof., Ph.D. Jan Żmudzki
Prof., Ph.D. Jacek Osek
National Veterinary
Research Institute
in Puławy
43
Science and Technology
he quali
quality of food products, as far as the
amount of harmful
h
chemical
substances included therein is concerned,
conce
depends,
to a large eextent, on environmental conditions in
agricultural
production
areas. Con
Contaminants may
be introduc
introduced into plants
directly from the atmosphere or from tthe soil (with the
soil dust or absorbed
a
by the
root system).
system Therefore, a
low level of
o soil contamination in rural
ru areas is one
of the main factors securing
high quality of crops and
as a result, minimizing the
risk of introducing
intro
harmful
substances into
i
the human
food chain.
Proper quality of soil
environment is important
environmen
not only for
fo the human
health, but it also regulates
the function of the soil as a
groups
habitat for different
d
of soil organisms,
orga
without
which the soil
so could not fulfil
its production
producti
and habitat
functions. The
T relationships
between the basic soil functions and their
th threats are
discussed in the document
called ”The
”Thematic Strategy
for Soil Prote
Protection”, recently
T
The Quality of Soil
in Agriculture Production Areas
in Poland
approved by the European
Parliament [C
[COM(2006)231
final].
The Instit
Institute of Soil Science and Plant
P
Cultivation
– National Research Institute (IUNG
(IUNG-PIB) in Puławy
44
Winter 2009/2010
Science and Technology
carries out monitoring of
agricultural soils in Poland for
nearly 20 years. The studies,
aiming at evaluation of the
concentration of contaminants in relation to the basic
properties of soils were covered by two programmes.
The first one included nearly
50 000 sampling points,
located in the agricultural
areas in the whole country,
was completed in the period
from 1992 to 1997. The
chemical analysis performed
under this program took into
account the soil properties
and the content of 5 metals
(Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn). The
second Programme called
”Monitoring of the chemistry of arable soils in Poland,”
which was financed by the
Inspection for Environmental Protection, covered three
sampling campaigns in the
years of 1995, 2000 and
2005. Soil samples in the
number of 216 were collected each time from the
arable land in Poland, with
particular reference to the
areas of significant anthropogenic pressure. Analytical
determinations comprised
over 50 parameters, including 13 metals and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) [Terelak et al., Biblioteka Monitoringu Środowiska,
1999, 2002, 2007].
In order to provide a more
comprehensive analysis of all
data, three different systems
were used to evaluate the
level of soil contamination:
• The system developed
by the IUNG-PIB for agricultural soils [Kabata-Pendias
et al., Biblioteka Monitoringu
Środowiska, 1995), where
soils are divided into five
classes, depending on the
amount of contaminants
and on possibilities of transition of these contaminants
into the human food chain.
This system was commonly
used in Poland until 2002.
• The Polish regulation
(Dz. U., 2002) on the standards of soil and land quality,
where the maximum permitted level of contaminants,
The statistical evaluation
of the results of both programmes is presented in
Table 1. These data showed
that the average content of
metals in agricultural soils in
Poland is on the similar level
as in other European coun-
taminated with metals). The
areas characterised by higher
levels of these trace elements are located in highly
industrialized/mining areas,
such as Silesia Voivodship or
situated near the local pollution sources. Higher levels of
for the specific soil use and
the depth of the soil layer
are specified.
• The Dutch regulation
(VROM, 1995), commonly
applied in the EU Member
States, which introduce two
limit values for each of the
specified contaminant; “intervention value” indi-cating the
need of soil remediation and
much lower ”optimal value”,
below which the concentration of contaminants in the
soil does not create a hazard
for human health and for soil
ecosystems...
tries. The first Pro-gramme
(1992-1997) indicated, that
according to the IUNG-PIB
evaluation system, in 98 %
of soil samples from agricultural lands in Poland the
content of metals (Cd, Cu,
Ni, Pb, Zn) does not pose
any risk to human health –
as regards the possibility of
transfer of these contaminants into the human food
chain (soil of class 0 and
I). Application of the Polish
regulations (Dz.U., 2002)
gives similar results (over
99 % of soils are not con-
metals, exceeding soil limit
values, were also found in
some sampling points located in the areas of historical
metal ores mining and heavy
industry (Głogów, Lubin). In
some cases, elevated metal
content in soils originate
from a parent rock material rich in these elements,
which are usually less bioavailable than metals from
industrial pollution.
The results of the second Monitoring Program
of arable soils in Poland
(1995-2005) confirmed the
Winter 2009/2010
45
Science and Technology
low levels of metals in the
areas of the crop production (Table 1). According to
the IUNG-PIB classification,
over 98% of soils can be
gested their similar distribution as in the first monitoring
program: the highest concentration of contaminated
soils can be found in highly
are found mainly in highly
urbanized and industrialized
areas (near big cities like
Warsaw or Krakow, in the
Upper Silesia region, etc.).
contaminants of anthropogenic origin: their concentration in soils do not create a
risk for humans or biota for
the majority of arable lands
classified in class 0 and I
(uncontaminated soils) Figure
1 Simultaneously, over 94%
of arable lands in Poland comply with the criteria of Polish
regulations (Dz.U., 2002)
for soils not contaminated
with cadmium, lead and zinc
(Figure 2) . Application of the
Dutch system (VROM, 1995)
indicates that the amount of
these elements is below the
”optimal value” (i.e. close
to the “background level)
for 93% of arable lands in
Poland; – Figures 1 and 2.
None of the analysed areas
has the content of metals
surpassing the ”intervention
value” indicating no need for
soil reclamation. The spatial
assessment of the data sug-
industrialized/urbanized
areas, mainly in the Upper
Silesia region.
Arable soils in Poland were
also evaluated as regards the
content of PAHs – organic
contaminants formed during
the combustion of organic
substances. In Poland (GUS,
2006) they derive mainly
from the house heating, and,
to a lesser extend – from
industrial processes. Being
in agreement with the Polish
(Dz.U., 2002) and Dutch
regulations (VROM, 1995)
this can be stated that about
95% of arable soils in the
country may be classified as
uncontaminated (Figure 2
and 3). As in the case of
metals, contaminated soils
In summary, it can be
concluded that in accordance
with Polish regulations, 98%
of agriculture land in Poland
meet the criteria for soils
not being contaminated with
metals. Evaluations based on
the IUNG-PIB system indicate that cultivation of crops
and vegetables on these
areas does not pose a risk
of contamination of human
food chain with potentially
toxic metals. The same criteria are met in the case of
at least 93% of arable lands
in Poland and assessments
based on the internationally
accepted Dutch regulations
(VROM, 1995) lead to the
identical conclusions. Similar
situation applies to organic
in Poland, which in 95% are
not contaminated with PAHs,
in accordance with Polish and
Dutch regulations.
The remaining 5-8% of
agricultural land, predominantly situated in the areas
of higher anthropo-pressure,
have to be monitored further to specify the territories of higher human and
ecological risk, which has to
be excluded from agricultural
production.
Prof. PhD. Wiesław Oleszek,
Prof. PhD. Barbara
Maliszewska-Kordybach
The Institute of Soil Science
and Plant Cultivation
– the National Research
Institute in Puławy
The editorial office of the ”Polish Food” quarterly would like to apologize to Professor Barbara Maliszewska-Kordybach and
Professor Wiesław Oleszek, as well as to all readers, for the wrong translation of a sentence on page 43 in the article ”Quality and Safety of Food of Plant Origin” in the ”Polish Food – Autumn 2009” issue of the quarterly. The correct wording of the
sentence is as follows: ”…95% of arable soils in Poland should be considered as uncontaminated, taking into account both the national criteria, as well as the criteria applied in other EU countries.”
46
Winter 2009/2010
Science and Technology
Welfare of Pigs
vs. Intensiﬁcation of Production
ntensive keeping systems,
designed usually for man’s
convenience,
seriously
modify not only the animal
behaviour but also the physiology of the whole animal
body, they affect its health,
productivity and quality of
obtained products.
I
Keeping sows
Let us support the fact
that conditions in livestock
houses may have an adverse impact with results of
studies on keeping sows in
the open system. The sows
kept in pig arks, not only
during a farrowing and feeding period, but also during
the other part of the cycle
are in a much better physiological condition in comparison to their analogues
kept in buildings. They have
more erythrocytes but also a
lowered level of stress hormones (ACTH, cortisol).
Even larger diversification among the tested sows
was demonstrated by behavioural observations (Table 11, page 59). They
clearly show a disproportion
which occurs with regard to
the physical activity of the
animals reared in the confinement system. The sows
in the open system spend
72% of day and night on
physical activity. This value
corresponds to observations
conducted in the semi-natural environment, in case of
wild pigs.
Table 7, page 59 presents
a comparison of production
results and selected indexes
of the welfare of the sows
kept in various pens during
a farrowing period. Here,
diversification of the conditions took place at several
levels. On one hand, it was
placing the bedding on the
floor, on the other – limitation of a possibility of physical activity. Additionally, the
area of one of the pens was
divided using an equipment
in such a way that it enabled dividing the sow’s activities into the zones: the beddingless zone – for feeding
and defecation and the bedding zone – for sleeping and
feeding the piglets.
The pen with the separated zones, ensuring the
sow a possibility of instinctive organization of the living area should be evaluated in the most favourable way. The lowest welfare
level was found in case of
the farrowing crate. Limitation of the sows’ physical activity is not justified here in
any way. Deaths of piglets,
thus, also cases of squeezing are not the lowest here
at all. Just the opposite, it
was the pen with a possibility of dividing into the zones
which ensured the lowest
level of losses. And production results are the best in
case of this type of the pen.
As for other structures, diversification of welfare levels
has not been directly translated into productivity.
Pig fattening
Rules regulate many aspects of keeping pigs. One
Winter 2009/2010
of them is density per one
area unit during fattening.
In periods when prices go
up, many producers want
to use the available room in
the piggery to a maximum
extent. So is it worth to increase density without paying attention to the welfare
and rules? It turns out that
the standards make sense.
In our studies on an impact of density, both in case
of free feeding at automatic
feeders and in case of dosed
feeding at trough, a negative
impact of increased density is clearly visible (Table 8,
page 59). Here, the welfare level is directly translated into productivity. Very
drastic shortages in the minimum available area are reflected in mortality of the fatteners. By the way, also an
impact of the fodder administration method, not only
on the size of gains but
also on an increase in the
number of fatteners’ deaths,
should be noted. In telemetric ECG examinations,
a strong stress, in a form of
tachycardia, was observed
very often when fodder was
placed in troughs. Behavioural observations showed
numerous attacks, pushing
out and biting among the
fatteners. Abnormal behaviours are demonstrated very
strongly in case of common
group keeping.
On two extreme sides
of the welfare evaluation
scale, there are beddingless
and bedding systems (Table 9, page 59). The former
are characterized by the
low welfare level, noticeable both by medium values
of biophysical values and by
basic levels of ACTH and
cortisol. It is worth to note
that despite the same thermal conditions in the rooms,
the higher loss of heat, thus,
indirectly, the lower skin
temperature is characteristic
of beddingless floors.
Among the systems
with access to straw, those
where the bedding is spread
every day are characterized
by the medium welfare level. The best solutions in this
regard are those where human service-interference is
as low as possible.
Insofar as the self-flow
system is intended for small
groups, the deep bedding
is a system for 40-60 pigs
reared together. The most
explicit reflection of welfare
diversification is visible in the
use of fodder by the fatteners. In case of the size of
gains, it is noticeable only on
an example of extreme welfare qualities.
Behaviour
In the course of evolution, animals developed a series of behaviour types being
a response to variable environmental stimuli. Some researchers condition the welfare level upon a possibility of a behavioral response
to specific factors and upon
the very performance of behaviours. An example may
be the sows’ need to build a
nest, which has no functional consequences in a farrow47
Science and Technology
ing pen and is strongly motivated by the prolactin level
and visual stimuli. All behaviours being the animal’s re-
One of the basic welfare conditions is a possibility
of manifesting natural behaviours. Pig behaviour is their
Fear is an adaptation
emotion whose aim is to
protect the body from being hurt. A problem of in-
sponse to the living environment come into existence
by way of classical and operant conditioning. The role of
pig behaviour must not be
ignored.
specific language, allowing
them to express fear, pain,
suffering but also joy or comfort. There is no doubt today
that animals are able to experience these emotions.
tensive keeping systems is
depriving animals of a possibility to perform adaptation
behaviours towards stimuli they are threatened by.
In these circumstances, fear
may be a powerful and potentially harmful stress factor. Fear and anxiety inhibit behavioural patterns justified by other systems, such
as learning, feeding or maternal and reproductive
behaviours.
Perspectives
Consideration of features increasing the animal
welfare in breeding programmes encounters huge
difficulties due to a specific
nature of evaluation methods and great variability of
observation results. Breeding work, taking the wel-
48
fare into account, requires
collection of information on
many features, both production and functional. An
increase in the body size,
changes in metabolism and
other changes may cause a
high reduction in the welfare level.
Unfortunately, each improvement in the welfare
involves additional costs
which are hard to be recovered in a form of a
higher product price. This
situation is by all means
understandable, in particular, when it is considered
on a macro scale. Therefore, economic reasons
can be alleged as main reasons for non-observance
of animal rights. A certain
additional circumstance,
favouring the occurrence
of faults against this background, is a separation of
a direct bond which connected an owner and his/
her animals in small holdings. On farms keeping
hundreds and thousands of
animals there is no time
and place to look after individual animals.
As a result of unification
and globalization, not only
of pig production but of the
entire agriculture, it is relatively easy to introduce applicable rules, not only those
regarding the product safety
but also the welfare of ”raw
material.” Only this method may guarantee fair competition and reduction in superfluous costs. All is based
on the system of institutional control.
Prof., Ph.D.
Eugeniusz Herbut,
Ph.D. Jacek Walczak,
National Research Institute
of Animal Production
in Kraków
Winter 2009/2010
Eating-out
n each re
region of Poland
one can come across
dishes which
whic are its specialty, its original
o
concept.
In times o
of globalization
searching fo
for and promoting regional
regiona tastes is very
valuable, but
b also fashionable. Regional
Regi
dishes are
worth presenting,
pres
because
they are a testimony
t
of the
region’s past,
pa they constitute a part of its cultural
heritage and
an can be additional tourist
touris attraction.
In Poland
Polan many local
and national
nationa events are organized – including competitions and
a
festivals –
thanks to which
w
a greater
number of lovers of traditional Polish cuisine can familiarize th
themselves with
original regional
dishes.
reg
Also in the Podkarpacie region ssuch events are
organized. It is enough to
mention a Peasant Food
Festival in Giedlarowa,
Podk
the Podkarpacie
FestiTaste or Powidlaki
val of Tastes
Krzeszów Those who
in Krzeszów.
participated in these festivals will ne
never forget the
atmosphere and those unforgettable tastes.
ha a closer look
Let us have
Podk
at the Podkarpacie
cuisine
familiariz ourselves just
to familiarize
I
Traditional Polish Cuisine
– The Podkarpacie Region
a little with culinary specialties of this rregion.
Historica
Historically
it was not
regio thus dishes
a rich region,
Podkarpa
in Podkarpacie
were usuprepare from cheap
ally prepared
a
and easily accessible
ingresuc as potatoes,
dients, such
Winter 2009/2010
W
49
Eating-out
cabbage and groats. The
most popular traditional dishes of this region include the following: ”proziaki,” ”kugiel,” ”bulwiok,”
”haluszki,” ”krupiak,” ”pan-
March 2006) are oval or
rectangular
pancakes,
baked on the top plate of
a warm stove. They taste
like traditional home-made
bread. They have been
epuchy,” ”małdrzyki” and
infinite number of kinds of
”żur” and ”pierogi.” Many
of these products and
dishes have been entered
into the List of Traditional Products of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development.
consumed by inhabitants
of the Podkarpacie region
for over 150 years. They
are made from wheat flour
(wholemeal would be the
best), eggs, sour milk and
cream with a teaspoon of
baking soda, salt and sugar.
A detailed recipe is trans-
Let us try to decipher
some of these mysteriously and funny sounding
names, even for the Poles
from other regions of the
country.
Proziaki (on the List of
Traditional Products since
mitted from generation to
generation. Owing to the
possibility of being prepared quickly, ”proziaki” often replaced home-made
bread. Nowadays there
are many kinds of ”proziaki”. They can be filled
50
e.g. with cabbage or white
cheese, they can be made
from spelt flour instead of
wheat one – to mention
just a few suggestions.
Kugiel is a dish originating from the cuisine of our Eastern
neighbours, a kind of
potato cake. There
are many kinds of
”kugiel” in the Podkarpacie region. In
the simplest recipe this dish is prepared from the following ingredients:
potatoes, bacon or
pork fat, eggs, onion, garlic, cream,
salt and pepper. Bacon or pork fat must
be chopped and fried with
onion. Potatoes must be
finely grated and strained.
They are thoroughly mixed
with fried bacon and onion, eggs, pounded garlic and spices. Then the
mixture is poured into a
tin. The baked pancakes
should be 5-6 centimeter-thick. After baking, they are
sliced and served
with cream and
fried bacon sauce.
Kugiel can be
served with layers of different fillings put between
potato layers. The
most popular fillings
include: the one
made from sauerkraut stewed with
onion and fried bacon, the one made
from white cheese with
fried onion.
In the Podkarpacie region also another kind of
pancake – bulwiok – is
prepared from potatoes.
This name originates from
the times when this was a
rectangular pancake baked
in autumn, when potatoes
were dug up, and taken to
people digging up potatoes
in the field. This ”seasonal” dish could be filled with
groats, white cheese with
mint and beetroots. Bulwiok is on the List of Traditional Products.
Haluszki is a kind of potato dumplings. Batter is
prepared from boiled and
grated potatoes, eggs, flour
and salt. After kneading the
batter, 2-3 centimeter-thick
rolls are formed, slightly
flattened and cut with a
knife into small pieces –
dumplings that are as thick
as a finger. After boiling,
they are served with butter, fried onion, sprinkled
with cheese or ”bryndza”
(ewe’s milk cheese). We
also know another version
of these dumplings – they
are prepared from raw
potatoes and formed into
balls similar to walnuts.
Kacapoły are also a
popular dish served for
lunch in Podkarpacie.
These are potato dumplings – round and smaller
than ”panepuchy.” Owing
to the availability of ingredients, kacapoły could be
prepared all year round.
They were served warm,
seasoned with pork fat,
fried bacon and fried onion, usually washed down
with milk. Sometimes they
were boiled in milk and
served as a soup. As a
vegetarian meal, kacapoły
were often served on Fridays. Dumplings that were
left after lunch, were fried
and served for dinner in
their full form or sliced.
An interesting regional product originating from
Podkarpacie is krupiak. It
is known in particular in
Winter 2009/2010
Eating-out
Krzeszów and its surroundings, where it is served at
all celebrations. It looks like
a not very high pankcake,
most often in rectangular
shape. Batter for krupiak is
usually made from various
ingredients, such as buckwheat groats, potatoes,
eggs, white cheese and fat.
As soon as in 2006 the dish
was entered into the List of
Traditional Products in the
Podkarpacie region.
The name panepuchy
refers to a lunch dish –
round (5-6 centimeter in
diameter), fluffy, boiled
sweet dumplings, poured
with butter and cream.
Another sweet dish of
the Podkarpacie region is
małdrzyki – small pancakes
made from batter containing white cheese, eggs,
butter and flour. After frying on a frying pan they are
served sweet with powdered sugar on top. Children are particularly fond
of this delicacy.
is enormous. So far, as a
regional specialty, the following pierogi are included in the List of Traditional Products: Pilzno ”pierogi” with potatoes
and white cheese,
Pilzno ”pierogi” with
meat, Pilzno ”pierogi” with sauerkraut
and mushrooms,
Pilzno ”pierogi” with
cowberry.
Cabbage
has
been cultivated and
very popular in
Podkarpacie for a
long time. Therefore, it is often used
in many traditional dishes from the
region. Both white sweet
cabbage and sauerkraut are
used. Regional dishes made
from cabbage or with cabbage include for example:
Pilzno cabbage rolls, cabbage patties, cabbage with
barley groats from the Lasowiacki region, ”pierogi
with sauerkraut and mush-
Another very popular
dish in the described region is pierogi. The ingenuity of housewives from
Podkarpacie in inventing
kinds of “pierogi” fillings
rooms, steamed dumplings with sauerkraut and
mushrooms.
Sweet cabbage is used
for making ”gołąbki” that is
cabbage leaves rolls with
Winter 2009/2010
a filling. The kind of filling put into ”gołąbki” depends on housewives’ ingenuity. The most popular
are Pilzno gołąbki – filled
the best quality wheat flour
with some milk and eggs.
Top of the cake is decorated with birds, human figurines or nice plaits made of
with pork meat mixed with
rice and spices. After boiling, but before the serving,
they are additionally oven-grilled. In the Podkarpacie region also vegetarian ”gołąbki” are popular
– filled with groats and
grated potatoes or pearl
barley and peas.
Parowańce are
steamed
round,
filled
dumplings.
They are made
from milk and flour
cake, and the filling
is made from fried
sauerkraut, mushrooms and onion.
A very special product of the
Podkarpacie region
is a dish prepared
on a special occasion – for weddings
– Rzeszów ringshaped wedding
cake. It tastes like an
ordinary sweet bun,
but looks incredible. It is
round, with a diameter of
about 40 centimeters and
12 centimeter high. Pastry
for this ring-shaped cake
is usually prepared from
cake. Sometimes it is additionally garnished with artificial flowers, myrtle, rosemary or salvia branches,
apples and golden hazelnuts on sticks. This is a
very elaborate pastry.
Richness of traditional, regional dishes from
Podkarpacie is enormous.
Many of them have been
entered into the List of
Traditional Products of the
Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development. This is
the third region in terms of
the number of specialties
entered into the list, as 78
dishes have been entered.
The leaders are Śląskie
voivodship – 104 products
and dishes and Pomorskie
voivodship – 102.
But that number should
be supplemented by hundreds of local dishes which
are not commonly known
yet except for one or several towns or even families. It is worth visiting the
Podkarpacie region and
discover its tastes!
Ewa Woicka-Bekas
ARMA
51
Eating-out
am
Roast h
For a very long time, hospitality of
Poles has been widely admired. Both
in village cabins and at noble courts
guests were served the best dishes that
could be prepared. Meat dishes were
obligatory on an Old Polish table when
guests were being entertained. Pork, beef
and poultry have always been the most
popular types of meat in Poland.
In the traditional Polish cuisine all
parts of pork carcasses are used, and the
variety of dishes made of them is simply
amazing.
Pork ham can be roasted, fried or
boiled. An Old Polish dish is roast ham
with caraway. It looks especially impressive and appetizing when the rind is cut
chequered before roasting. There are also
prunes
h
t
i
w
d
in stuffe
Pork lo
52
Winter 2009/2010
W
Eating-out
plenty of ways to prepare pork loin.
A very popular dish is roast pork
loin with marjoram. A more workconsuming yet equally tasty dish is pork
loin stuffed with prunes. Slices of pork
loin are used for the most popular pork
dish in Poland, coated and fried pork
chop. Also roasted knuckle of pork (pig’s
feet) has its enthusiasts. It is sprinkled
with beer during roasting, which gives it
the extraordinary, great taste. One should
also mention another popular and traditional dish, roasted pork ribs.
The taste of each dish may vary from
region to region.
Roasted
knuckle
of pork
Ewa Woicka-Bekas
ARMA
Coated
Winter
Wi
W
in
ntte
ter
er 2
2009/2010
00
0
009/
09/
9/2
20
010
10
and frie
d pork c
hop
53
Statistics
Chart 1. Export of agricultural and food products in the
period from 2006 to Sept. 2009
Chart 2. Import of agricultural and food products in the
period from 2006 to Sept. 2009
mln EUR
mln EUR
1 300
1 200
1 100
1 000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 300
1 200
1 100
1 000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
2006
May.
Jul.
Jun.
2007
Aug.
2008
Sep.
Okt.
Nov.
Jan.
Mar.
Feb.
Dec.
Apr.
2006
I - IX 2009*
May.
Jul.
Jun.
2007
Aug.
Sep.
2008
Okt.
Nov.
Dec.
I - IX 2009*
* temporary data
* temporary data
Table 1. Budget of RDP 2007-2013 in Poland, by axes (in billion EUR)
EAFRD
State budget
Total
%
Axis 1. Improving the competitiveness of
the agricultural and forestry sector
Item
5.4
1.8
7.2
41.9
Axis 2. Improvement of the environment
and the countryside
4.4
1.1
5.5
32.0
Axis 3. The quality of life in rural areas and
diversification of the rural economy
2.6
0.9
3.4
19.8
Axis 4. - LEADER
0.6
0.2
0.8
4.7
Technical assistance
0.2
0.1
0.3
1.7
TOTAL
13.2
4.0
17.2
100.0
Source: Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013
Chart 3. Regional diversification of aid funds paid out by ARMA under the measures of RDP 2007-2013, as of
31 October 2009 (in million PLN)
Dolnośląskie
Kujawsko-pomorskie
Lubelskie
Lubuskie
Łódzkie
Małopolskie
Mazowieckie
Opolskie
Podkarpackie
Podlaskie
Pomorskie
Śląskie
Świętokrzyskie
Warmińsko-mazurskie
Wielkopolskie
Zachodniopomorskie
455.2
Support for semi-subsistence farms
654.4
Agri-environmental programme
1003,5
305.7
Early retirements
758.9
Modernisation of agricultural holdings
436.4
1573.3
Setting up of young farmers
Increasing the added value to basic agricultural
and forestry production
210.2
421.1
LFA
913.0
467.9
Afforestation
205.8
Agricultural producer groups
529.8
592.8
Diversification into non-agricultural activities
Running of the Local Action Group
1107.7
560.5
Chart 4. Structure of payments executed under the measures of RDP 2007-2013 as of 31 October 2009
Agricultural producer groups
63.8 Mln. Zloty
0.6 %
Modernisation of agricultural holdings
1 248.1 Mln. Zloty
12.2 %
Early retirements
2 336.1 Mln. Zloty
22.9 %
Afforestation
207,8 Mln. Zloty
2,0 %
Source:
Own study
54
Agri-environmental measures
1523.0 Mln. Zloty
14.9%
Diversiﬁcation
71.6 Mln. Zloty
0.7 %
Young farmer
245.1 Mln. Zloty
2,4 %
Local Action Groups
5.5 Mln. Zloty
2.4 %
Increasing the added value to basic agricultural
and forestry production
40.9 Mln. Zloty
0.4 %
Semi-subsistence farms
1300.9 Mln. Zloty
12.8 %
LFA
3 153. 6 Mln. Zloty
30.9 %
Winter 2009/2010
Statistics
Table 2. Measures of RDP 2007-2013 and allocation of funds under RDP 2007-2013 by implementing authorities
Name of the measure
IA
Number of
beneficiaries
Number of projects
Budget of public
funds (in million EUR)
Axis 1. Improving the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sector
Vocational training for persons employed
in agriculture and forestry (111)
FAPA*)
500
40 thous. training
participants
40
Setting up of young farmers (112)
ARMA
33 600
33.6 thous.
420
Early retirement (113)
ARMA
-
50.4 thous.
2 187 .6
Advisory services for farmers
and forest owners (114)
ARMA
1 200 000 (services)
600 thous.
350
Modernisation of agricultural holdings (121)
ARMA
79 171
59.4 thous. holdings
1 779.9
Increasing the added value to basic agricultural
and forestry production (123)
ARMA
3 500
1.5 thous. companies
1 100
Improvement and development of infrastructure
related to the development
MO**)
1 150
-
600
Participation of farmers
in food quality schemes (132)
ARMA
74 900
69 thous.
holdings
100
Information and publicity (133)
ARR
1 350
370
30
ARMA
-
350 GPRs
140
and adjustment of agriculture and forestry (125)
Agricultural producer groups (142)
Axis 2. Improvement of the environment and the countryside
Support of management in mountain areas
and in less favoured areas (LFAs) (211. 212)
ARMA
-
750 thous. annually
2 448.7
Agri-environmental programme (214)
ARMA
-
200 thous.
2 303.7
Afforestation of agricultural
and non-agricultural land (221.223)
ARMA
-
52 thous.
653.5
Restoring forestry production potential damaged
by natural disasters and
ARMA
1 000
-
140
introducing appropriate prevention instruments
(226)
Axis 3. The quality of life in rural areas and diversification of the rural economy
Diversification into non-agricultural activities (311)
ARMA
21 530
19.7 thous.
345.6
Establishment and development
of micro-enterprises (312)
ARMA
28 670
27.3 thous.
1 023.6
Basic services for the economy
and rural population (321)
MO
21 210
7.1 thous.
1 471.4
Village renewal and development (313. 323)
MO
20 080
9.7 thous.
589.6
Axis 4. LEADER
Implementing the local development
strategy (4.1/413)
MO
21 280
10.6 thous.
620.5
Implementing the cooperation projects (4.21)
MO
200
200 LAGs
15
Running of the Local Action Group.
MO
11 200
200 LAGs
152
ARMA
8 700
520
266.6
acquisition of skills and activation (4.31)
Technical assistance
*) FAPA – Foundation of Assistance Programmes for Agriculture
**) MO – Marshal’s Offices
Source: Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013
Winter 2009/2010
55
Statistics
Table 3. Implementation of measures of RDP 2007-2013 as of 31 October 2009
Submitted
applications
Issued
decisions/
agreements
Amount
of issued
decisions/
agreements
(in million PLN)
Number of
beneficiaries
Paid amount
(in million PLN)
Use of the limit
1
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
Setting up of young farmers
7 430
5 641
282.1
4 902
245.1
14.2%
Early retirements*
17 064
13 663
14.5
66 645
2 336.1
29.7%
Advisory services for farmers
and forest owners
4 694
0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0%
Modernisation of agricultural
holdings
43 236
19 714
2 560.0
11 337
1 248.1
16.8%
Increasing the added value to basic
agricultural and forestry production
1 269
397
558.1
58
40.9
0.9%
209
31
142.7
0
0.0
0.0%
7 957
0
0.0
0
0.0
0.0%
1
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
321
299
58.4
234
63.8
12.6%
2 263 205
2 015 004
3 578.0
782 029
3 153.6
35.8%
Agri-environmental programme
254 141
148 084
1 523.0
88 260
1 523.0
18.4%
Afforestation of agricultural and
non-agricultural land
7 734
3 515
79.3
9 819
207.8
8.8%
Diversification into non-agricultural
activities
7 103
2 767
231.2
888
71.6
5.0%
Establishment and development
of micro-enterprises
4 981
153
19.3
0
0.0
0.0%
Basic services for the economy
and rural population
1 937
52
193.3
0
0.0
0.0%
Village renewal and development
2 870
2 033
1 158.5
0
0.0
0.0%
Running of the local action group
627
271
52.2
142
5.3
1.0%
0
0
0.0
152 447
1300.9
82.1%
149
42
10.01
0
0.0
0.0%
2 624 929
2 211 666
10 460.5
1 051 029
10 196.3
15.2%
Name of the measure
Vocational trainings for persons
employed in agriculture
and forestry
Improvement and development
of infrastructure related to the
development
and adjustment of agriculture
and forestry
Participation of farmers in food
quality schemes
Information and publicity
Agricultural producer groups
Support of management in
mountain areas and in less
favoured areas (LFAs)
Support for semi-subsistence
holdings –
liabilities of 2004-2006
Technical assistance
TOTAL
* presented amounts show forecasted amounts of monthly payments
56
Winter 2009/2010
Statistics
Figure 1. Regional diversification of payments under RDP 2007-2013, per 1 holding above 1 ha, acc. to CSU and per
statistical beneficiary entered into the ARMA’s Producers Register, in thousand PLN
8.5
Pomorskie
13.2
14.9
Zachodniopomorskie
10.2
Lubuskie
10.1
10.1
12.9
Warmińsko-mazurskie
8.5
9.6
Podlaskie
7.2
8.7
Kujawsko-pomorskie
4.4
Łódzkie
5.2
6.2
Dolnośląskie
Aid granted under RDP
2007-2013 per 1 producer
registered in the Producers
Register and per 1 holding
above 1 ha, in thousand PLN
5.4
5.8
Mazowieckie
6.9
8.1
10.2 Wielkopolskie
4.8
4.1
4.4
Lubelskie
per 1 producer in
the Producers Register
per 1 holding above 1 ha acc.
to CSU
4.1
4.6
Świętokrzyskie
5.0
5.3
Opolskie 2.4
Śląskie
2.5
2.2
2.3
Podkarpackie
2.2
2.3
Małopolskie
Source: Own study
Figure 2. Regional diversification of payments under RDP 2007-2013, statistically per 1 ha of arable land acc.
to CSU, in PLN
Pomorskie
627.9
Zachodniopomorskie
594.7
Podlaskie
816.9
Kujawsko-pomorskie
624.8
738 do 934
639 do 738
625 do 639
595 do 625
378 do 595
Mazowieckie
737.8
Wielkopolskie
613.8
Lubuskie
639.3
Average aid granted under
RDP 2007-2013 per 1 ha
of arable land, in PLN
Warmińsko-mazurskie
613.3
Łódzkie
695.3
Dolnośląskie
473.1
Lubelskie
641,7
Świętokrzyskie
933.6
Opolskie
378.1 Śląskie
472.4
Małopolskie
637.7
Podkarpackie
560.0
Source: Own study
Tested
Infected
Year
Herds
Animals
Herds
Animals
2008
279,887
2,791,362
12,659
33,420
1st half of 2009
229,152
2,057,335
2,287
4,480
–
–
14,946
37,900
Total
Winter 2009/2010
Thousands of tons, PM weight
Table 4. The number of herds and animals examined under Chart 5. Pork meat production in Poland in 2000-2009
the programme for the eradication of Aujeszky’s disease in
2500
pigs and results of tests for this disease carried out in 2008
2209
2136 2165
1980 1981
and in the first half of 2009.
1950 1887 2028
1936
2000
1702
1500
1000
500
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
years
2005
2006
2007
2008 2009*
* forecast of IAFE
Source: Study by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development based on data from CSO.
57
Statistics
Table 5. The evaluation of content of selected metals in
agricultural lands in Poland (n = 48 600) and of the level
of soil contamination, according to the IUNG classification
and to the Ordinance of the Minister of Environment.
Percentage of
uncontaminated soils
Content (mg kg-1)
Metal
Geometric
95
mean
percentiles
Scope
Cadmium
Lead
Zinc
0.01–50
0.1–1723
0.5–2838
0.2
14
33
Contaminant
Lower
quartile
Median
Upper
quartile
Standard
Deviation
5.51
(mg · kg–1)
According
to the
IUNG-PIB
classification
(class 0–I)
According
to the
Ordinance
98.2
99.5
98.6
99.6
99.3
99.4
0.46
25.0
65.2
Table 6. The evaluation of the content of selected metals
and of PAHs in the soils of arable lands in Poland
(n = 216)
Cadmium
0.21
0.14
0.35
Lead
13
10
20
76
Zinc
33
23
49
403
0.395
0.256
0.694
0.767
Σ16PAHs
Graph 6. The evaluation of the level of contamination of Polish arable soils (n = 216) with selected metals:
A. in accordance with the IUNG-PIB classification (classes
0 – I correspond to uncontaminated soils),
99.0
98.6
98.6
98.6
90
80
93.5
97.7
Cd
Pb
Zn
Cu
80
70
Cd
Pb
1 class
2 class
Zn
3 class
Cu
4 class
5 class
Graph 7. The evaluation of the level of contamination
of Polish arable soils (n = 216) with selected metals, in
accordance with Dutch legal regulations.
uncontaminated
92.8
contaminated
Graph 8. The evaluation of the level of contamination of
Polish arable soils (n = 216) with PAHs, in accordance
with Dutch legal regulations.
100
4.2
4.6
93.1
100
% of the entirety
95.8
90
70
0 class
95.8
100
% of the entirety
% of the entirety
100
B. in accordance with current Polish legal regulations.
80
90
%
60
95.4
(< Opt.V.)
40
80
20
70
Zn
< Opt .V .
58
0
Cd
Opt .V .< In t .V
>In t .V .
Polish Ordinance of
the Minister of
Environment
Dutch legal
regulations
Winter 2009/2010
> limit value
< limit value
(uncontaminated)
Statistics
Table 7. Production results of the sows kept in various
farrowing pens
Pen type
Specification
Danish
bedding
With separated zones
Danish beddingless
Farrowing
crate
Table 8. Average production results of the fatteners in
individual experience groups
Daily gains
(kg/head)
0.8
0.818 a
9.68
100
2.502 k
0.1 c, e
0.72
0.79
105
2.45
0.15 d, f
0.67
0.78
104
2.400 k
0.7 c, d
0.61
0.751 a
106
2.49
0.9 e, f
0.5 g, h
Fattening
period (days)
Deaths and
cullings (%)
Automatic feeders
Birth weights of [kg]
farrow
Daily
consumption
of fodder
Density (m2/
head)
10.45
9.09
10.11
piglet
1.16
1.19
1.18
1.17
Number of piglets
born alive (pcs)
8.6
9.62
8.04
9.41
Feeding at trough
Weaning weights of [kg]
farrow
83.57
102.42 a
83.28
80.40 a
0.8
0.778 b
100 i, j
2.47
Mortality (%)
6.7 g
5.3 g, h, i
6.2 h
6.3 i
0.72
0.75
108
2.63
0.65
27.8 c, d
26.3 e, f
32.2 c, e
34.4 d, f
0.67
0.72
116 i
2.45
0.9 g
no
no
3.8
4.5
0.61
0.700 b
114 j
2.51
1.3 h
Cortisol (nmol/l)
Stereotypies (x/24h)
aa – differences relevant at P≥0.05; AA – differences relevant at P≥0.01
Table 9. Average production results, values of biophysical
parameters and concentrations of hormones in keeping
systems with various welfare levels
Aa – differences in columns statistically relevant at P≥0.05
Table 10. The national programme of control tests on
presence of forbidden substances and chemical and biological residues, and residues of medicinal products in
animals and food of animal origin – results of tests
Keeping systems
Incompliant results, n (%)
Specification
Low
welfare level
Medium
welfare level
High
welfare level
Average
daily gain (kg)
0.730 a
0.75
0.757 a
Fodder
consumption per
1 kg of gain (kg)
2.982 b, c
2.838 b
2.719 c
Year
6
123
129 (0.47)
5
88
93 (0.34)
2006
27,565
16
108
124 (0.45)
29,675
2
161
163 (0.55)
29,717
7
153
160 (0.54)
97.9 d, E
88.6 d
85.9 E
36.8 G, f
37.5 H, f
2008
ACTH (pg/ml)
45.84 l, j
38.89 j, k
32.16 l, k
60.47 L, M
43.23 L, n
37.48 M, n
Keeping system
Total
26,931
34.8 G, H
Behaviour types
B group
27,647
Skin
temperature (0/C)
Table 11. Participation of individual behaviour types of
the sows kept in the open system and in the confinement
system
A group
2005
Pulse (x/min)
aa – differences relevant at P≥0.05; AA – differences relevant at P≥0.01
Chemical compounds
2004
2007
Cortisol (nmol/l)
Number
of tests
Table 12. Results of microbiological tests of food tested in
NVRI in 2004-2007
Test type
Year/number (%) of samples incompliant
with requirements
2004
2005
2006
Presence of Salmonella spp. (n=451)
25 (5.5)
14 (3.1)
27 (5.9)
2007
0 (0)
Presence of Listeria monocytogenes
(n=127)
3 (2.4)
3 (2.4)
1 (0.8)
0 (0)
Presence of Escherichia coli O157
(n=12)
0 (0)
0 (0)
1 (8.3)
0 (0)
Open [pig arks]
Confinement
[farrowing pens]
0 (0)
0 (0)
4 (36.4)
27.6
87.8
Presence of Campylobacter spp.
(n=11)
0 (0)
Lying
(% of 24 h)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
72.4
12.2
Presence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus
(n=11)
0 (0)
Physical activity
(% of 24 h)
9 (3.3)
2 (0.7)
0 (0)
0 (0)
Grouting
(% of 24 h)
11.2
-
7 (3.5)
1 (0.5)
Exploration
(% of 24 h)
16.3
-
Feeding
(% of 24 h)
5.3
6.7
Stereotypies
(% of 24 h)
-
3.1
Presence of spore-forming anaerobic
bacteria (n=276)
Number of coagulase-positive
Staphylococcus spp. (n=199)
Number of Enterobacteriaceae (n=55)
Number of bacteria of the Coli group
(n=241)
Number of Escherichia coli (n=135)
Winter 2009/2010
Number of Listeria monocytogenes
(n=45)
21 (10.6) 10 (5.0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
8 (3.3)
10 (4.1)
3 (1.2)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
2 (4.4)
2 (4.4)
0 (0)
0 (0)
59
Statistics
Table 13. Scope and plan of sample collection in 2008
Species
No. of
slaughtered animals/production
Number of animals/samples
A group
Number of animals/samples
B group
1,413,086
3,568 (0.25%)
farm – 1,784 (50%)
slaughter house – 1,784 (50%)
Total 5,936 (min. 0.4%)
Cattle
2,368 (min. 0.15%) 2140
Total 11,512 (min. 0.05%)
Swine
23,015,105
Sheep/goats
20,660
Horses
37,520
4,606 (0.02%)
farm – 232
(1 sample per 100,000 animals)
slaughter house – 4,374
6,906 (min. 0.03%)
Total 100 (min. 0,05%)
16 (0.01%)
84 (0.04%)
Total 403 (state decision)
Total 4,235 (1 sample per 200 tonnes)
Chickens
841,500 tonnes
Turkeys
138,790 tonnes
2,115 (50%)
farm 422 (1/5)
slaughter house 1,693
2,120 (min. 50%)
Total 700 (1 sample per 200 tonnes)
347 (50%)
farm 70 (1/5)
slaughter house 277
353 (min. 50%)
Total 260 (1 sample per 200 tonnes, min. = 200 samples)
Geese
24,820 tonnes
100 (50%)
farm 20 (1/5)
slaughter house 80
160 (min. 50%)
Total 240 (1 sample per 200 tonnes, min. = 200 samples)
Ducks
7,520 tonnes
Fish
36,000 tonnes
Milk
11,761,400 tonnes
100 (50%)
farm 20 (1/5)
slaughter house 80
140 (min. 50%)
Total 600 (1 sample per 100 tonnes)
130 (1/3)
470 (2/3)
Total 2470 (1 sample per 15.000 tonnes)
2,030 (min. 70%)
A6, B1, B2a, B2e group
440 (min. 30%)
B3a, B3b, B3c, B3d group
Total 630 (1 sample per 1,000 tonnes)
Eggs
Rabbits
448,000 tonnes
2,290 tonnes
Farm game
no data
Game
281,264
395 (min. 70%)
A6, B1, B2b group
235 (min. 30%)
B3a, B3c group
Total 135 (min. 10 samples per 300 tonnes)
34 (min. 30%)
101 (min. 70%)
Total 100
20 (min. 20%)
80 (min. 70%)
Total 180 (group B3)
Total 260
(100 samples per the first 3,000 tonnes + 1 sample per each following 300 tonnes)
Honey
Imported products of animal origin
16,228 tonnes
190 (min. 50%)
A6, B1, B2c, B2f group
70 (min. 50%)
B3a, B3b, B3c group
in accordance with recommendations of the Chief Veterinary Officer
Source: own elaboration by the authors
60
Winter 2009/2010
Useful Addresses
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
ul. Wspólna 30, 00-930 Warszawa, Poland, http://www.minrol.gov.pl
THE MINISTER’S POLITICAL CABINET
provides direct political and technical advice to the Minister, Secretaries and Under Secretaries of State, acc. to the tasks assigned.
THE DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL MATTERS
provides legal services to the Ministry’s departments.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 25 22
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 13 78
THE DEPARTMENT OF FOOD SAFETY AND
VETERINARY MATTERS
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of veterinary
protection of public health, protection of animal health, quality of
feedingstuffs, animal protection and breeding of farm animals.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 18 43
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION,
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of establishment and operation of consulting, agricultural education and
science system, social protection of farmers.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 15 75
THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of planning and management of financial resources under the budgetary headings 32, 33 and 35 as well as financial resources
from EU intended for development of agriculture, fisheries
and rural areas.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 20 21
THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND MANAGEMENT
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of land
management, support of agrarian restructuring and vindication of
agricultural real property, spatial planning, protection of agricultural land, agricultural surveying, land classiﬁcation, environmental engineering, use of unconventional energy sources including
biomass for energy purpose, land melioration, technical means
of production for agriculture and coordination of environmental
protection issues.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 18 41
THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANT BREEDING
AND PROTECTION
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of plant
breeding and seed production, plant protection, registration of
plant protection products, health quality of biological material, organic farming, protection of genetic resources, GMOs as well as
fertilisers and fertilisation.
THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of absorption
of the EU funds allocated to the Member States for agricultural and
rural sectors development.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 18 42
THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES
the departament of ﬁsheries carries out the tasks vesed in the Minister in the area of development of the sea and inland ﬁsheries,
agriculture and market in ﬁsh.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 14 71
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
AND INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of the coordination of participation in the Common Agricultural Policy (cooperation with the Ofﬁce of the Committee for European Integration), participation in the works of the European Union authorities
and also within the framework of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as
well as other international organizations and also bilateral and
multilateral foreign co-operation
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 24 71
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETS
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister relating to the regulation of agricultural markets in the framework of the Common
Agricultural Policy, agricultural statistics, market information,
restructuring of agri-food and food processing, normalisation in
agricultural and agri-food processing, utilising unconventional
sources of biomass for energetic purposes and analyses and
the reform of the CAP in the framework of agricultural markets
regulation.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 16 32
THE DEPARTMENT OF PROGRAMMING AND ANALYSIS
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister in the area of direct
payments under the Common Agricultural Policy.
carries out the tasks vested in the Minister relating to prognosing
and programming the development of agriculture and rural areas
as well as analyses and assessments of the situation in agriculture
and in the countryside, protection of the countryside’s cultural
heritage, social and professional activisation of rural inhabitants,
development of enterpreneurship, job market in agriculture and
in the countryside, social protection of farmers as well as work
safety and hygiene.
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 12 34
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 18 44
Telephone number: (+48 22) 623 21 51
THE DEPARTMENT FOR DIRECT PAYMENTS
Winter 2009/2010
61