Regional Disparities related to Socio-Economic Determinants of Agriculture in the Romanian Plain

Abstract

The structure and pattern of agriculture in Romania has been facing significant changes over the past decades in relation to the contextual social, political and economic transformations. The current study is seeking to assess the determinants of agriculture in the main agricultural region of Romania (Romanian Plain) based on selected socioeconomic factors. The authors selected nine socio-economic indicators (agricultural surface, labour renewal index, economic dependency index, economically active population, employment in agriculture, vitality index, share of young labour, share of female population and roads and railway density) which were aggregated into an index of socio-economic determinants of agriculture. Overall, the final index values revealed spatial differences which enabled a certain separation between the eastern, central and western parts of the Romanian Plain: socio-economic favourability for agriculture in the central and, to some extent, in the eastern parts and a significantly reduced favourability in the western area. The current research could become an important step for in-depth assessments of environmental and socio-economic determinants of agriculture, developing strategies and supporting policies at different spatial scales.