Concentration of non-agricultural economic activity in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse and assess the concentration of non-agricultural activities in Poland as an element of the alternative use of agricultural real estate. A detailed analysis will cover the spatial aspect of the concentration of the conducted activity. In order to determine the concentration, the location quotient (LQ) was used. The article used the current data of the Central Statistical Office regarding the characteristics of agricultural holdings in Poland in 2016. While the income from non-farm businesses conducted by farmers reached 15.2 % of farms' total income on average for whole Poland, certain diversity can be seen among provinces. It is worth emphasising that for as many as 49.2 % of agricultural holdings conducting non-farm businesses, the revenues derived from such economic activity make up more than 50 % of the total income. In particular regions, however, the share of such farms was varied, yet remaining on a relatively high level, i.e. between nearly 40 % to 58.2 %, in all the country. The significantly greater diversity of the economically largest farms was not accompanied by greater differences in the concentration of farms gaining income from non-agricultural businesses.

Assessment of the Concentration and Structure of the Bioeconomy: The Regional Approach

“…It helps to show what makes a particular municipality "unique" in comparison with other municipalities and the national average. Lizinska and Kisiel [32] have pointed out that the values of a location quotient provide data serving to assess the level of concentration of the factor analysed. The threshold value of a LQ is assumed to be 1.00.…”

“…The threshold value of a LQ is assumed to be 1.00. Accordingly, if a LQ is equal to 1.00, the concentration of the bioeconomy in a particular area (municipality) is the same as the national average [31,32].…”

“…In order to assess the degree of concentration, the following intervals for LQ values were adopted from Lizinska and Kisiel [32] and used in the research:  a LQ value >1 means a higher concentration of the characteristic analysed than the average for Latvia;  a LQ value <1 means a potential deficit in the characteristic analysed;  a LQ value =1 (± 0.15) means that the distribution of the variable analysed runs a similar course as the distribution of this variable in the reference area.…”