Rola spółdzielni w zapewnieniu dostępności żywności w Polsce − na przykładzie produktów mleczarskich
The Role of Cooperatives in Ensuring Food Availability in Poland: On the Example of Dairy Products

Summary/Abstract: The article evaluates the food security of dairy products in Poland in the mostimportant dimensions, i.e. the availability of food. Dairy cooperatives are dominant in Polishmilk processing business. They represent 62% of all dairies in the country, with a 72% sharein the purchase of milk. A new approach to the above considerations is therefore to takeinto account the role of cooperatives. The scope of this elaboration covers the period afterthe transformation of the economy, and the detailed data on the assortment of dairiescovers the years 2013 and 2017, due to the access to comparable data from dairy reports.The data from the Central Statistical Office and IAFE-NRI was also used in this research.Since 1990, Poland has significantly increased self-sufficiency in its production of milk anddairy products. The production potential of Polish agriculture and the processing industryis sufficient to produce milk and its products, while ensuring an adequate level of nutritionfor the country’s population. Despite the decline in the number of dairy cooperatives,they are still the dominant form in the milk processing industry. Dairy cooperatives existin every region. Most dairy cooperatives (over 62%) offer a wide range of dairy products(from 5 to 8 products), but this clearly represents a smaller share than just a few years ago(74%). We observe growing specialisation of cooperatives, with almost one in three offeringno more than just 4 products. Most dairies offering the most popular dairy assortment,i.e. liquid milk, fresh cheese, sour cream, butter and milk drinks, are dairy cooperatives(from 71% to 83%). In the case of other products their share is lower (from 44% to 71%).In each voivodeship there are cooperative plants producing basic dairy products. Dairycooperatives guarantee physical access to dairy products as well as permanent access tofood in every region of the country.

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