摘要：The article aims to compare the performance of Poland’s agriculture sector in individual provinces before the country’s entry to the European Union in 2004 and five years after accession.The authors attempt to determine the effectiveness of changes in the agriculture sector in the analyzed period as a result of an inflow of funds from the European Union, which was a major factor influencing the sector.In the initial stage of the analysis, the authors determined the inflow of EU funds to Poland’s agricultural sector in each province from 2004 to 2008 depending on farmland area, the number of people living in the countryside, the number of those working in agriculture, and changes in the value of gross domestic product.Further analysis was conducted using object ranking methods.Three ranking methods were used with different composite performance indicators: a method based on value added produced in agriculture per employee; the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method; and a method comparing the ranks of individual provinces for each diagnostic variable characterizing outputs and inputs in the agriculture sector. Individual provinces are compared in terms of how their position changed as well as in terms of the similarity of performance ratings compiled with different methods and according to the inflow of funds from the European Union budget.The authors also examined changes in the position of individual provinces in relation to those at the top of each ranking list.The analysis shows that the distribution of EU funds for the agriculture sector by province is uneven.The inequality of distribution varies, depending on the adopted measure.Despite the uneven distribution of EU funds for the agriculture sector, the ranks of the provinces according to each of the three performance measures are stable.The results obtained by the authors reveal no discernible positive effect of the regionally differentiated inflow of EU funds in the 2004-2008 period on changes in the position of the provinces in terms of various performance indicators.
关键词：EU funds for agriculture; agriculture sector performance; object ranking methods; regional studies; data envelopment analysis
