The socio-economic determinants of development of the Uscimow Commune in Poland

Social and economic transformations in Poland had as one of the consequences the fact that rural areas faced a number of difficulties and challenges. In connection with the political system transformation and Poland's accession to the European Union, problems appeared, concerning mainly the issues of employment and the population's income sources. The issues become yet more significant in the areas of agricultural and farming traditions, i.e. in Lublin Province (Voivod-ship), where the percentages of rural population and of population employed in agriculture are high and exceed 50%. The backwardness of this region calls for profound reforms, in which well-educated inhabitants, aid funds or local leaders may become the stimulating factors. The paper presents the current condition and the directions of development of the key industry of the commune (gmina) of Uscimow. The paper deals with a number of problems which, in particular, include a difficult demographic situation, investments in agriculture and new aspects of management. The presented conclusions were drawn on the basis of the material from the field research of the authors. The questionnaires, which were the basic form of gathering information, concerned: the incomes of households, the access to various institutions (health care, schools, town or city), the features of an agricultural household, plans and investments for the next 10 years, the way of obtaining financial means for investments (loans for agricultural production, UE aid forms for agriculture), as well as the opinions of the population on the chances and threats resulting from entering the EU.