Assessment of possible scenarios for farmers' social capital development
2007
Pelse, M.,Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Economics
Social capital is a factor to be taken into account in developing farms in Latvia, however, due to the current situation farmers' social capital is not developed enough and, therefore, specific measures have to be taken to improve this situation. In order to increase farmers' social capital, it is necessary to improve Access to information, lifelong education possibilities have to be developed, and the co-operation system has to be enhanced in rural areas. Not only farms gain from an increase in farmers' social capital, but subsequently other spatial structures as well in which farms are functioning: local governments, regions, the state, and the European Union. The results presented in this paper are based on the opinion of five competent experts who are closely related to Latvian agriculture. When choosing the experts, the fact was taken into account that they are especially competent in agriculture as one of their occupations. According to experts' opinion, as an optimal scenario for increasing social capital would be the establishment of a unified information centre for farmers, which would allow them to acquire a wide range of operational information, gain new communication partners and widen contact networks. These are important social capital elements. If carrying out additional activities, farmers' social capital would be much more developed than it is presently.
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