41.2.2 Romania’s Land Resources
Romania is a medium-sized country, measuring 238,391 km
2 (being the twelfths
country by size in Europe) with a population of 21,431,298 people (2010) of which
55% live in urban areas and 45% live in rural areas. Romania is the seventh largest
country in the European Union as regards its size, the fifth largest as regards its
agricultural surface and the sixth largest in terms of the arable land it has. As
regards Romania’s land surface vs. population ratio this is as follows: 0.68 ha of
agricultural land and 0.44 ha of arable land per capita – which almost twice the
global and European average. (Statistical Yearbook Romania 1990).
As regards Romania’s land quality, 40% of its arable land is of a good and very
good quality, 26% is medium quality while 34% is of poor quality. In absolute
terms, Romania’s agricultural land expanse measures 14.685 ha, with arable land
measuring 9422 thousand ha. The agricultural policies of the communist state were
geared towards expanding the country’s agricultural area up to anywhere between
10 and 15 thousand ha with an arable stretch of up to ten thousand hectares. To this
end, large thwaites of pasturage lands – that were located on steep hills, which made
their exploitation difficult on top of their being susceptible to erosion – were
reclaimed for arable purposes (Fig. 41.2).
According to the data provided by Romania’s Yearbooks, published during the
final years of the totalitarian communist regime, fifteen million ha of agricultural
land as well as ten million ha of arable land were claimed to exist in Romania yet,
this was never really the case.
Subsequently, these figures were revised downwards, to match an expanse of
14.685 ha of agricultural land and 9422 thousands ha of arable land, as mentioned
previously.
Fig. 41.2 Pastures with steep slopes predisposed to erosion that had been turned into arable land
(Source: Aurel Lup’s personal photo archive)
664
A. Lup et al.
Romania is a medium-sized country, measuring 238,391 km
2 (being the twelfths
country by size in Europe) with a population of 21,431,298 people (2010) of which
55% live in urban areas and 45% live in rural areas. Romania is the seventh largest
country in the European Union as regards its size, the fifth largest as regards its
agricultural surface and the sixth largest in terms of the arable land it has. As
regards Romania’s land surface vs. population ratio this is as follows: 0.68 ha of
agricultural land and 0.44 ha of arable land per capita – which almost twice the
global and European average. (Statistical Yearbook Romania 1990).
As regards Romania’s land quality, 40% of its arable land is of a good and very
good quality, 26% is medium quality while 34% is of poor quality. In absolute
terms, Romania’s agricultural land expanse measures 14.685 ha, with arable land
measuring 9422 thousand ha. The agricultural policies of the communist state were
geared towards expanding the country’s agricultural area up to anywhere between
10 and 15 thousand ha with an arable stretch of up to ten thousand hectares. To this
end, large thwaites of pasturage lands – that were located on steep hills, which made
their exploitation difficult on top of their being susceptible to erosion – were
reclaimed for arable purposes (Fig. 41.2).
According to the data provided by Romania’s Yearbooks, published during the
final years of the totalitarian communist regime, fifteen million ha of agricultural
land as well as ten million ha of arable land were claimed to exist in Romania yet,
this was never really the case.
Subsequently, these figures were revised downwards, to match an expanse of
14.685 ha of agricultural land and 9422 thousands ha of arable land, as mentioned
previously.
Fig. 41.2 Pastures with steep slopes predisposed to erosion that had been turned into arable land
(Source: Aurel Lup’s personal photo archive)
664
A. Lup et al.