Evaluation of changes in rural areas under the selected measures of the European Union’s common agricultural policy

The current paper presents the results of evaluation of the influence of selected measures within Rural Development Programme (RDP), such as spatial development, afforestation, land consolidation, water management, village renewal and agri-environmental programmes on rural areas in Poland. The data used in the study cover the years 2004-2015, and were collected from the reports of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Polish Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA), Polish Central Statistical Office (CSO), with special consideration given to normative acts concerning the Rural Development Plan 2007-2013 and 2014-2020, and the results of a study on different aspects of rural development conducted at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute in Puławy (IUNG-PIB). Our study clearly shows that aforementioned measures differ significantly in terms of the level of implementation in Poland. Thus, the spatial development operation, one of the most important activities in relation to the sustainable development of rural areas, has not been introduced in RDP as s separately task. Additionally, the initiatives regarding water retention were also not fully implemented under the RDP 2007-2013 because of the shortage of time. The process of land consolidation has contributed only to very little change in land use, from about 1% in “classical” method to 4% in “complex” method of land consolidation in the total area. On the other hand, a decline in reforestation has been observed in comparison of RDP 2004-2006 and RDP 2007-2013, which is considered to be appropriate and should lead to the target rate of afforestation of approximately 33%. The village renewal measure was entirely introduced and has a very positive effect on the agricultural environment. Agri-environmental programme plays an important role for both ecological and economical aspects of the agricultural environment and its realization covers a very wide range of actions. In conclusion, all the analysed measures have a very positive effect on the agricultural environment. However, they should be implemented more quickly and comprehensively which should lead to a more sustainable development of rural areas in Poland.