EN
The adaptation of Western Pomerania's agriculture to EU conditions requires: further structural change, the activation of rural areas and the direction of the multifunctional development of rural areas, and improvements in provisioning with technical, institutional and social infrastruc-ture. A further important aspect is constituted by changes in the directions of agricultural output, especially as regards the production of non-food raw materials. From the production point of view, the results so far obtained are more positive than has been usual for the country, but still markedly below EU averages. The relatively favourable size structure of the region's farms points to a possibility for competitiveness to be raised, on condition that there is a significant injection of capital into farms. Chances are afforded by: improved efficiency of production, further improve-ments in agrarian structure, and the creation of systems of vertical integration; as well as by the highly touristically-valuable features of the coastal zone and lakeland belt, which provide possibilities for the development of rural tourism. The most important barriers to the development of agriculture and rural areas include: the low level of education of the rural populace, the high levels of structural and generational unemployment, the lack of capital, the low level of entrepreneurial skill, limited mobility of the population, a low level of investment and weak infrastructure. There are thus many weak points which need to be improved markedly in the pre-accession period, in association with a general intensification of activity in the integration period.