The Significance of Public Agricultural Advisory in the Functioning of the National Rural Network (Nrn) in the Financial Perspective 2014-2020

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the importance of public agricultural advisory services, which are an important link of the National Rural Network (NRN) in the process of its functioning in the 2014-2020 financial perspective. The indirect objective is to assess the degree of use of financial instruments supporting the NRN by agricultural advisory services, which are resources of Technical Assistance in the framework of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP). The NRN is part of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD).The main stakeholders of the ENRD are agricultural advisory services. The regulations concerning the organization of the NRN in the financial perspective 2021-2027 were presented. The study was conducted using different research methods. The basic methods include an (comparative-descriptive) analysis of national and international legal acts and literature on the subject, and the method of synthesis and deduction. The importance of agricultural advisory units (AAU) in the functioning of the NRN system was assessed in six selected Polish voivodeships (Podkarpackie, Opolskie, Lubelskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Lubuskie and Śląskie) based on the results of a study of empirical material published by the Minister of Agriculture. It was shown that the resources of AAU ensured the efficient performance of statutory tasks in the scope of supporting the functioning of the NRN for the years 2014-2020. However, an unfavourable phenomenon was the significant proportion of funds that were not used for NRN and returned to the Ministry of Agriculture. A significant share of unused funds indicated ineffective operational planning of tasks under the NRN for individual voivodeships.