European Funds For Rural Areas And Regional Convergence Of Agriculture In Poland

Subject and purpose of work: The aim of the article is to assess the phenomena of sigma convergence of labour productivity in agriculture and other sectors of rural economy in Polish regions during 2003 – 2014 in the context of the amount of European funds designated for agriculture and rural areas. European supprt was compared to the Gross Added Value of agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishery. Materials and methods: The subject literature and statistical data received from the Agricultural Modernization Agency and the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office were used. The empirical data regarding the level of agriculture in regions as well as the data on the resources utilised from the European Union were examined in order to assess the correlation between them and the phenomenon of regional sigma-convergence. Results: The study confirms the sigma convergence of the Gross Value Added per units of funding obtained from the European Union Budget and different level of sigma convergence of GVA / PE in regions. Conclusions: Sigma convergence assessment of the Gross Value Added per person employed in regions shows that in the analyzed period three phases could be distinguished: convergence (2003 – 2008), divergence (2008 – 2010) and stagnation (2010 – 2014).