Polski
The Strategy for Sustainable Rural, Agricultural and Fisheries Development 2030 is the primary strategic document for agricultural policy and rural development. It presents the goals, directions of intervention and actions that should be taken in the 2030 perspective. On October 17, 2023. The Council of Ministers adopted a resolution to update the document, which was originally adopted on October 15, 2019.
Strategy for sustainable development of rural areas, agriculture and fisheries 2030 – need for an update
The Strategy for Sustainable Rural, Agricultural and Fisheries Development 2030 has been updated for the changes that have taken place in agriculture over the past 4 years. This includes. situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. It is also about the new EU budget, adopted after 2020. and providing, among other things. Additional investment financing during the transition period for the 2014-2020 Rural Development Program.
Strategy for sustainable development of rural areas, agriculture and fisheries 2030 – comments made during public consultations
Between August 25 and September 29, 2023. Public consultations on the draft of the updated Strategy were underway – we wrote more about this in a previous issue of Water Matters: Strategy for Sustainable Development of Rural Areas, Agriculture and Fisheries 2030 – public consultations are underway. As part of the consultations, 16 regional conferences were held (one in each province), during which the assumptions of the new document were presented. Twenty-one comments were made during the conference, of which six were finally considered. There were 12 comments submitted electronically, of which 4 were eventually taken into account.
The most important changes
The adopted document updated the main objective, emphasizing the need to ensure the country’s food security. It is also necessary to increase added value from agriculture and sustainably increase the income of rural residents while minimizing economic, social and territorial stratification and improving the environment.
In view of the new challenges facing the agri-food sector, the specific objective “Strengthening food security and resilience to crises” has been redefined. Its implementation is to be served by activities and strategic projects falling under the following directions of intervention:
- I.1. Increasing the profitability of agricultural production, fishing and agri-food processing.
- I.2. Building resilience in agricultural and fisheries production, including resilience to climate change.
- I.3. Ensuring the country’s food security and food quality.
- I.4. Energy transformation of the agri-food sector and the development of the bioeconomy.
- I.5. Preparing the Polish agri-food sector for EU enlargement and new foreign trade conditions.
Strategic projects were also reviewed, indicating those already implemented, those in the pipeline or brand new ones.
The updated document emphasizes the need to build greater resilience to climate change (particularly to water shortages), the need to rebuild supply chains broken during the pandemic and as a result of the war in Ukraine, strengthen domestic agri-food producers and processors for a sustainable food security capacity (including for livestock production), and ensure a fair playing field in the enlarged EU and with the new foreign trade environment. The update also refers to initiatives aimed at improving demographics in rural areas.
All of the changes made in the document reflect expectations for better targeting of EU funds and goals beyond 2027. for the development needs of rural areas and the agri-food sector. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers on the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Rural Areas, Agriculture and Fisheries 2030 will be published in the Monitor Polski.
