WP5 Case study on genetic resources in food and agriculture

5 Poland5.1 Situation of agriculture and institutions involved in theconservation of genetic resourcesAfter having suffered from an agricultural crisis in the 90s, resulting in land abandonmentas a new phenomena in Poland and in a sharp drop especially of animal and milkproduction, new funds and instruments are becoming available with accession to the EUsupporting agricultural production and offering possibilities for nature conservation. Theintegration of Poland in the EU will probably lead to more intensive production methodsand enlargement of farms and field sizes, thus posing a threat to biodiversity, althoughsingle environmental problems, such as limiting the negative impact of small farms onwater resources or better storage and use of fertilisers and pesticides, will be addressedmore effectively. But experiences with SAPARD, which didn’t lead to practicalimplementation of AEM, show, that environmental issues are not handled as a priority.As well, public awareness of biodiversity is low.These developments and the introduction of commercial forms of food production alsoinfluence the genetic diversity in agriculture. The process of diminishing diversity of farmlivestock and cultivated crops started in the 90s. Especially for sheep and horses but alsopigs and poultry a decline of genetic diversity has been observed. Many geneticallydifferent varieties of crops are being replaced by modern and genetically similar varietiesin the process of adaptation to EU-standards. But in some areas of Poland, many smallfarms with traditional management have still survived and together with them several oldlandraces of crops.Systematic collection of plant genetic resources for agriculture has a long tradition inPoland and intensive work is undertaken to collect and document old local varieties ofcrops. Biodiversity of agriculturally utilised animals and crops in agriculture seems to bebetter explored than in the case of wild plant and animals. Knowledge at species andabove-species (i.e. ecosystem) level is relatively good, while the intraspecific (genetic)level is much less investigated.InstitutionsFor the different nature-related conventions and agreements the Department of Forestryand Nature and Landscape Conservation within the Ministry of Environment (MoE)provides the National Focal Point (Secretariat). The Ministry establishes the main goalsfor biodiversity protection, prepares programmes and strategies for their implementation,establishes new regulations on this field and coordinates the implementation of theNational Strategy. For the protection of biodiversity in rural areas the MoE cooperateswith the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoA). The MoA isresponsible for the implementation of AEM and coordinates and supervises actions29