The objective of the work was to qualify advisory needs of country women of initiative in the bearing of advisory problems and their contents, and directions of advisory staff improvement. The study was performed in 1995 and included 266 women of initiative, 99 experts of country household and 20 managers of agricultural advisory centres. The age structure of women of initiative was favourable - every other one was aged between 36 and 45 year old. The half (51.1%) of women of initiative were secondary educated; 30.8% of the women had elementary education and 6.7% of the women had university education. Nearly 90% of women of initiative owned farms which differed considerably in their size and course of production. In opinion of 63% of the women interviewed the most serious barriers in their activities are of economic nature. Advisory centres were addressed with following advisory needs: organizational and legal needs (54% respondents), technological needs (49%), marketing needs (48%) and economic needs (19%). Advisory service staff claim that the structure of needs of country women includes 31% of organizational and legal needs, 28% of both technological and marketing needs and about 11% of economic needs.
The purpose of the work was to represent important features of farmers of initiative, characteristics of their farms as well as their advisory needs. The research was made in 1995 and included 3579 farmers of initiative and their farms from all regions of Poland. It was found that the farmers of initiative were typified by qualifications, favourable age structure and current professional improvement, especially in the range of activities of initiative. Clients of agricultural advisory centres will be mostly the best and very good farmers, the ones who provide for increase of prosperity and improvement of farm economics in their initiatives. The farmers expectations of advisory services will change and it seems that economics, marketing and market economy regulations will prevail the advisory problems. The important matter of economic politicians who take care for development of the country and farming is answering the question: How to be equal to the task (i.e. organization forms, financial questions etc.)? Farmers of initiative own much better farms - they are bigger, better cultivated and more efficient. There is probably a feedback interdependance: the farmers of initiative own better farms because they are people of initiative, because they own better farms that makes them look for new chances and cope with new problems.