The analysis of the spatial layout of land in relation to less favoured areas (LFA) in the Milejów comune, Łęczna district

University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, ul. Leszczyńskiego 7, 20-069, Lublin, Poland

^* Corresponding author: zanna.krol@up.lublin.pl

Abstract

Rural land in Poland accounts for more than 90% of the area of the country and plays a very significant role. It is inhabited by 38.1% of the population. Unfortunately, these people are largely unemployed. The present status of the agricultural production space is a result of many centuries of human activity closely connected with social and economic, legal and political conditions. The spatial arrangement of land in the rural areas of central, southern, south eastern and eastern Poland, developed by historical processes, is characterized by the frequent occurrence of individual plot patchworks. An incorrect configuration of land owned by farmers considerably affects the profitability and effectiveness of agricultural production. The accession of Poland to the European Union offered many options for development to our country and in particular to the Polish countryside. Reconstruction of the defective spatial structure in Poland is one of the priorities of the EU’s agricultural policy. Numerous development programmes (SOP, RDP) are used for financing land consolidation and exchange works which are one of the basic tools for transforming ownership and structural relations in rural areas. With regard to the fact that agricultural land in Poland is greatly differentiated, particular attention should be paid to less favoured areas (LFA). It seems obvious that farmers in LFA are not able to generate the same earnings from crops as those generated by farmers in favoured areas. For the purposes of this publication, detailed surveys were carried out in the Milejów commune, Łęczna district, Lublin voivodship. Five villages in that commune were classified as less favoured areas. The analyses showed that Milejów is one of two communes in the Łęczna district with the smallest average area of plot owned by individual farmers. Based on the analysis of the structure of ownership and use, fragmentation and distribution of plots, as well as identification of less favoured areas, an alternative land development model was proposed, along with the reconstruction of the existing arrangement of land through comprehensive consolidation and exchange of land.