CREATION OF A GIS DATABASE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND MANAGEMENT IN THE NORTH-WEST DEVELOPMENT REGION OF ROMANIA

Abstract

The agricultural sector has been suffering in recent years from a decrease in the workforce, especially young farmers. In this regard, it is necessary to rethink agricultural holdings by practicing intensive and financially sustainable agriculture in order to be able to provide food for the entire growing population. In the framework of this work, a number of 276 agricultural farms belonging to the North-West Region of Romania were studied in 2024, from the point of view of the way agriculture is practiced, through a large survey that was applied directly to farm owners, with a number of 14 relevant questions with multiple answer options. Following statistical interpretations and the creation of GIS maps, it can be observed that the area under study benefits from a rich agricultural area with a great diversity of crops, but with a slightly aging workforce that uses very little new techniques and modern technologies to intensify the productions obtained. Field crops are present in 88.4% of farms, followed by permanent crops (67%) and horticultural crops (25.7%). The conclusions of the study show an increased potential in the use of ecological, intensive and economically sustainable agriculture by applying modern technologies in agriculture such as GIS systems for the spatial tracking of agricultural land.