Assessment of agricultural land fragmentation in Romania, a case study: Izvoarele commune, Olt County

Abstract

Agricultural land fragmentation is a common phenomenon in developing countries in general and for Romanian agriculture in particular. The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of fragmentation of Romania's agricultural land, which is considered a major obstacle in the development of a modern agriculture. The analysis undertaken has shown that the degree of land fragmentation is high in the study area; the most fragmented are the big farms, while the small ones are more compact. At the same time, due to the scattered distribution of plots and the long distances between holdings, many fields have been turned into fallow land and consequently productivity has dropped. Under the circumstances, half of the owners are against the proposed process of merging plots because they are afraid of losing their properties again, as occurred during the communist regime.