Ocena wiedzy i postaw rolników na temat upraw genetycznie zmodyfikowanych organizmów

Abstract

<jats:p>The objective of the research study was to analyse the knowledge the farmers in the Opole province in Poland have on genetically modified crops and to evaluate their approaches to this issue. The vast majority of the farmers surveyed know the “genetically modified organism” term (92%) and the meaning of the ‘GMO’ acronym, although the knowledge of the younger farmers with secondary and tertiary education was at a higher level. Most often, the farmers acquire their knowledge from media and, less often, from trade journals. Even so, the majority of the surveyed (more than 70%) find their knowledge to be insufficient. The majority of the farmers polled (73,9% men i 57,1% women) are not open to such types of crops and food. Of the farmers surveyed, only a small percentage (9,2% men) admits to growing GM crops and a higher percentage (28,7% men and 20,8% women) admits to feed animals with GM fodders. Almost 1/3 of the survey participants think that the cultivation of GM crops does not confer any benefits while the rest of the surveyed point out to such advantages as, inter alia, higher yields and reducing the amounts of plant health products used. The same percentage of the polled thinks that GM crops do not pose any risk to the environment. The majority of the farmers surveyed (more than 80%) are open to training and courses in order to expand their knowledge of genetic engineering.</jats:p>

Gmo in the Opinion of Farmers

“…Even the use of modified plants in other sectors of the economy than food production was assessed relatively critically by the surveyed farmers. Similar observations result from the only so far research on the awareness of Polish farmers conducted in a group of 250 people from the Opolskie Province (Kudełka & Strzelecki, 2018) and previous surveys by the Polish Federation of Biotechnology (2004). As in the research by Kudełka and Strzelecki (2018), farmers younger in age, better educated and running larger farms are characterized by greater openness to GMO cultivation.…”

“…There were very few studies in Poland to identify farmers' views on genetically modified crops and food (Kudełka & Strzelecki, 2018;Polska Federacja Biotechnologii, 2004). They show that farmers are familiar with the concept of GMOs, but their general attitude to the introduction of genetically modified crops is negative, despite the awareness of the benefits (higher productivity, resistance to plant protection products) (Kudełka & Strzelecki, 2018).…”