Should the Minister of Agriculture ensure the implementation of the act on exclusions from leases of the so-called thirty-year leases and consistently enforce the companies' compliance with the act, commonly known as the "Sawicki Act"? According to Marek Sawicki himself, the answer to this question is simple.
– I would tell Siekierski the same thing today as I told Tusk in 2007. According to Witos' principle, agricultural land should belong to those who plough it themselves – said the Senior Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, MP Marek Sawicki in the program "A Hundred Questions to…" on TVP Info, asked by the editor-in-chief of Farmer Radosław Iwański.
– Today, no KOWR is needed to manage state land, just as ANR was not needed – said Sawicki. This land should be sold to farmers in fair tenders, with the debt divided into installments. And I introduced the regulation that over 15 years it was possible to repay the purchased land with a preferential loan of 2%. The installment for the purchase of land was often lower than the lease fee, and yet some tenants did not want to buy – recalled the PSL activist and former Minister of Agriculture.
Not my law
Sawicki, however, firmly emphasised that it was not an act of his authorship, but "an act of agricultural chambers and Solidarity RI from two voivodeships: Lower Silesia and West Pomerania".
– Farmers demanded a share in the State Treasury lands to expand their farms, and large Western and domestic companies blocked access to the land. This is where the idea of excluding 30% came from, so that tenants who want to continue their contracts would make some of the land available to expand small family farms – explained the People's Party MP.
Land for farmers
Sawicki argued that both the Act on Exclusions and the concept of distributing state land among individual farmers were the right way forward.
– Today I would also tell Siekierski: please finish this project. And it would be best to talk to Prime Minister Tusk again about the total sale of state land to farmers, because farmers will be the best managers for them – said the PSL politician.
More land – lower prices
Sawicki also dispelled concerns that current land prices are too prohibitive for farmers and that purchasing land would be too risky an investment for many farmers.
– If there were more of this land for sale on the market, the prices would also drop. Now there is little land, which is why prices are high – says Marek Sawicki.
Read more
The land is to be returned to KOWR. No exceptions 
Read more
PLN 10 million fine for unauthorised land lease. KOWR in court with lessee 
Read more
Land from KOWR on lease to agricultural cooperatives? Is RSP a multi-family farm?
