2.3. Soils
2.3.1.Land degradation
The land reform radically changedthe structure of land property and the forms of land management.The number of private landowners increased dramatically. Instead of 1043 big collective farms existing in Moldovain 1991, presently there isover 1.1 million smallholdershaving, on average, 1.56 ha of agriculture land per share. In many cases, the new owners lackadequate experience and skills to cultivate their land and this caused improper management practices which, in turn, leaded to land degradation.
The main political, social, economic and organizationaldrivers of increased land degradationand reduction of agriculture productionare as follows:
-The land reform was not adequately grounded and was performed in the hurry;
-The allocation of land plots to the owners wasdonewithout: (i) developing a new organizational set-up of the territory; (ii) removing from the privatization scheme of degraded lands; and (iii) allocating land for a network of field protection strips andwater protection areas;
-The extreme parcellationof land (the land share of1-2 ha perownerwasatomized in 3-16 micro-plots situated in different places);this limitsthe application of land conservation and reclamation measures;
-Many new farmers lack knowledge and do not have adequate skills in the field of land management, land legislation, marketing of agriculture products, etc;
-Lack of a national policy and action programsfor land conservation and reclamation measures.
To better understand the forms and scale of land degradation in Moldova please refer to the following table.
Table 2.3
Distribution of degradedlandsby administrative units (without GagauziaandTransnistria),
ha /%
No. / Adminis-trative units / Total agricul-ture land / Eroded land / Landslides, ravinesand other degraded lands / Boggedlands / Saline and alcaline
lands / Total degraded lands
total / highly eroded / land subject to deforma-tion by land-slides / Degraded by active landslides / ravines / other degraded lands
1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13
1 / Balti / 232317
100 / 91723
39.5 / 14286
6.1 / 1139
0.5 / 5807
2.5 / 622
0.3 / 90
- / 19864
8.5 / 5117
2.2 / 124362
53.5
2 / Cahul / 150803
100 / 75940
50.3 / 11691
7.7 / 1954
1.3 / 1524
1 / 986
0.6 / 31
- / 14820
9.9 / 2520
1.7 / 97775
64.8
3 / Chisinau / 180365
100 / 74937
41.5 / 11056
6.1 / 5925
3.3 / 3806
2.1 / 657
0.4 / 284
0.2 / 5532
3 / 2916
1.6 / 94060
52.1
4 / Edinet / 190192
100 / 42439
22.3 / 4394
2.3 / 1553
0.8 / 3103
1.6 / 141
0.1 / 25
- / 4473
2.4 / 679
0.4 / 52413
27.6
5 / Lapusna / 190160
100 / 1147545
60.3 / 15646
8.2 / 4711
2.5 / 3282
1.7 / 976
0.5 / 25
- / 7222
3.8 / 3760
2 / 134730
70.8
6 / Orhei / 164672
100 / 84363
51.3 / 9441
5.7 / 2311
1.4 / 3682
2.3 / 902
0.5 / 178
0.1 / 3865
2.3 / 7952
4.8 / 133253
62.7
7 / Soroca / 187606
100 / 100048
53.3 / 13860
7.4 / 540
0.3 / 4918
2.6 / 700
0.4 / 50
- / 4630
2.5 / 1054
0.6 / 111940
59.7
8 / Taraclia / 48454
100 / 19442
40.1 / 1526
3.2 / 222
0.5 / 175
0.4 / 354
0.7 / -
- / 1067
2.2 / 151
0.3 / 21411
44.2
9 / Tighina / 153858
100 / 57344
37.3 / 6921
4.5 / 1937
1.2 / 1070
0.7 / 276
0.2 / -
- / 948
0.6 / 10110
6.6 / 71685
46.6
10 / Ungheni / 99641
100 / 57281
57.5 / 9843
9.9 / 4742
4.8 / 11386
11.4 / 1500
1.5 / -
- / -
- / 8062
8.1 / 82971
83.3
11 / Mun.
Chisinau / 24052
100 / 14404
59.9 / 2205
9.2 / 264
1.1 / 379
1.6 / 30
0.1 / 20
0.1 / 627
2.6 / 528
2.2 / 16252
67.6
12 / Gagauzia / 125196
100 / 59759
47.7 / 8456
6.8 / 6004
4.8 / 428
0.3 / 514
0.4 / 281
0.2 / 2899
2.3 / 4792
3.9 / 74677
59.6
13 / Total (without Trans-nistria) / 1797316
100 / 792434
45.3 / 109325
6.3 / 31302
1.8 / 39560
2.3 / 7658
0.4 / 984
0.1 / 65947
3.8 / 47644
2.7 / 985529
56.4
14 / Trans-nistria / 239798
100 / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
-
15 / Total agricul-tureland / 1987114
100 / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
- / -
-
Soilerosion.Approximately 2 million hectaresof the total agriculture landin Moldovaare situated on slope. The arable land, which is highly susceptible to erosion,totals 1,860,000 ha. From these, the area affected by all types of erosion makes up about 858,000 ha or 44% from theagriculture land (fig. 2.17., tab. 2.4.).
During the last 35 years, the area of eroded landsincreased by 264,400 ha,that is 10.4% of agriculture land (fig. 2.17). Annually, the eroded area increases by 7554 ha, or 0.86%,and 2.1 mm of topsoil are lost. These soils have already lost 40-60% of their initial fertility. Most affected are the Central and South regions of the country, namely the districts of Cahul (48.3%), Lapusna (42.5%), Ungheni (40.4%) and Orhei (40.0%).
The area of land entirely deteriorated by ravines is 8,900 ha, whilethe number of ravinesis 6,200.
Table 2.4
The area of eroded agriculture land
Administrative units / Eroded land, hatotal / including
Slightly eroded / Moderately eroded / Highly eroded
Balti / 120838 / 73098 / 32818 / 14922
Cahul / 77773 / 40651 / 25762 / 11360
Chisinau / 82093 / 46716 / 25090 / 10287
Edinet / 57377 / 40056 / 13176 / 4145
Lapusna / 105599 / 57535 / 33886 / 14178
Orhei / 89166 / 52436 / 26791 / 9939
Soroca / 74378 / 51730 / 16822 / 5826
Taraclia / 18339 / 10416 / 5738 / 2185
Tighina / 49337 / 28804 / 14222 / 5711
Ungheni / 70147 / 30448 / 26189 / 13510
City of Chisinau / 11936 / 6780 / 3678 / 1478
Gagauzia / 59067 / 31132 / 19194 / 8741
Transnistria / 53939 / 37935 / 12439 / 3565
Total Moldova / 858564 / 504158 / 252711 / 101695
The total annual losses of topsoil by erosion amount to 26 million tons, containing 700,000 tons of humus,50,000 tons of nitrogen,34,000 tons of phosphorus and597,000 tons of potassium. These cause a significant drop in agriculture production. Only direct economic losses due to the decrease of harvests are estimated at some US$ 220,000. The indirect impact of erosion results in: siltation of water bodies; damaging the hydrotechnical works, pollution of water courses and water bodieswith nutrients and pesticides,etc.
Wind erosion (deflation).Strong winds (over 15 m/sec) physically affect the topsoil, taking off the soil particles and damaging the crops.This process is quite frequent in Moldova, especially in its South region. Most affected are the light soils which have a poorer structure and contain less humic substances. In case of winds of 25-30 m/sec, the deflation hasthe appearance of a dust storm. Between 2 and 10 local or widespread dust storms occur inMoldovaeach year, especially in spring and autumn. Such storms may destroy completely the crops over large areas.
Landslides.The landslides are causing huge economic damages to the national economy (fig.2.18). The areas affected by the landslides were continuously growing during the last decades: 21,200 ha in 1970; 48,600 ha in 1980; 79,300 ha in 1990; and 84,000 ha in 2000. During the last years, the landslide areas were growing by approximately 1000 ha per year. The central part of the country is most affected.
The landslides endanger residential areas, roads, hydrotechnical works,etc. The estimated annual economic losses from landslides are about 200 million Moldavianlei.
Over the last years, the measures to prevent the proliferation of landslides have not been taken to the extent necessary. The planting of protection forest beltshas decreased sharply andmanyof existing belts have been cut for fire wood.In 2002,only 101 ha of protection forest belts have been planted.Besides, 7388 ha of forestswere planted on degradedlands and 183 ha,on the banks of the rivers andwater bodies.
As a result of the recent massive deforestation of the slopes and other geodynamic areas an exacerbation of landslide activity can be expected in the coming years.
Burning the vegetal remains on the fields.This is another factor contributing to the degradationof the soils. In 2001,the remains were burnt on 9,500 ha, and in 2002, on 1960 ha (fig.2.19).The damage caused to the land resources by the latter was estimated at 54,178 Moldavianlei.
Moistened and salinised soils. The total area of moistened soils is 49,600 ha,from which 32,600 ha are located on slopes and 17,100 ha in depressions; the latter are usually salinised.
The moistened zones situated on slopes usually occupy small areas of 0.1-5 ha. When on arable land, these spots create aheterogeneoussurface that makes difficult the land tillage. The total annual losses caused by reduced harvest on these lands was estimatedat 40 million Moldavianlei.
The total area of alluvial soils isabout 250,000 ha, from which 53% (132,500 ha)are in poor condition (salinised, bogged, etc.). The floodplain alluvial soils take 259,000 ha. 70% of the floodplains have been drained (180,000 ha)andare subject to salinisationand alcalinisation.