Ograniczenia i możliwości rozwoju rolnictwa w województwie śląskim

The purpose of this study has been to assess the possibilities of the development of agriculture in council communes of Silesian province, where exists a great diversity of natural, social and economic conditions. The analysis has proved that in half of the communes there ere significant limitations of agricultural production caused by poor quality of soil and a great number of small-holdings. The share of agriculture in people's income is small, as production supplies mainly individual households. There occurs a gradual abandonment of soil cultivation, drop in cattle breeding and disappearance of agricultural traditions. In other communes there exist some opportunities for the development of competitive agriculture on the European market. However, there is a different level of advancement of modernisation processes. Areas of traditional peasant agriculture require support in the improvement of agrarian structure, economic counselling and production specialisation. There is a better situation in areas with a higher land concentration on large farms. It is only the case of 10% of council communes where specialist farms producing mainly for the market are in majority.