Kielce Województwo

an administrative unit in Poland, situated between the Vistula and Pilica rivers, on the Małopolska (Little Poland) Uplands and the South Mazovian Lowlands. Area, 19,500 sq km (prior to the administrative changes in 1975). Population, 1.9 million (1972). The administrative center is Kielce. About half of the more than 200,000 persons employed in industry work in machine building, chiefly in Radom, Kielce, Starachowice (motor vehicles), and Skarzysko-Kemienna. Other industries include ferrous metallurgy (the combine in Ostrowiec-Świętokrzyski) and the manufacture of building materials (cement plants), plastics (Pionki), footwear, and tobacco products. Sulfur is mined in Grzybów, and pyrite, iron ore, and barite are extracted in other areas. Land under cultivation accounts for 55 percent of the total area. The principal agricultural crops are potatoes and rye, but wheat and sugar beets are also grown on fertile loess in the east and south; fruit growing is well developed, especially near Sandomierz. In 1969 livestock totaled 710,000 head of cattle (including 490,000 cows), 880,000 pigs, 283,000 sheep, and 227,000 horses.