IT training on the farm
Not a single micro-company located in the country has applied for EU funds, according to the Confederation of Polish Employers (KPP) and the Economy Ministry. A pro-innovation law introduced tax rebates and technological loans seven months ago, but it has yet to be taken advantage of.
Despite this apparent reluctance, around 15 percent of the unemployed in the country say they want to start their own business. Andrzej Malinowski, president of KPP, says these would-be entrepreneurs need help but currently there are no procedures or programs that would assist them in their enterprises.
Employers say there is plenty of scope for start-up rural companies, and they argue that the Polish countryside and farmers are sorely in need of an economic transformation and retraining. Jarosław Supera, from the International Banking and Finance Institute (IMFiB), says that in order to develop the industry and increase exports, all the government needs to do is to implement information technology and develop agricultural cooperatives.
Andrzej Lepper, Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister, agrees that there is a need to simplify access to EU funds and to increase the absorption by entrepreneurs operating in the rural areas. "We also need to come back to the idea of authentic cooperatives, to a Polish farmer that will produce, process and sell the product in their own shop chain," adds Lepper.
A company's competitiveness depends on its technological advancement, the quality of its products, its sales and the level of its costs. Polish SMEs are finding it difficult to finance current operations and cannot afford to purchase new technologies. Supera says that Poland should follow the examples of Spain and Portugal, where whole rural districts are giving farmers free internet access and training them on how to use it and innovative solutions to fertilize their business. "Financing is the biggest obstacle in the development of SMEs in the country. This will not change despite the existing law enhancing innovation. Here we expect the government to create a program that would favor non-farming activities in rural areas," says Malinowski.
The standard of living in the countryside is poor. The latest national census showed that in mid-2002 the number of Poles living in rural areas was 14.6 million, which is 38 percent of the population. Out of that some 4.4 million people worked and the number of jobless in the first quarter exceeded one million. Over 41 percent of respondents said they wanted to stop working in agriculture.
