The proposed indicator of fragmentation of agricultural land

In many countries of the world rural areas are characterised by defective spatial structure of agricultural land. Such a state of affairs is a result of long-term socio-economic and historical transformations. The most frequent defects are large fragmentation and distribution of farmland. The problem of land fragmentation has been widely described by many authors throughout the world, so over the years a number of features describing this defective phenomenon came into existence. The problem of distribution of land owned by individual farmers is slightly different, since this issue was not explored in Poland (plot patchwork) and in other countries of Europe and the world. It turns out that an indicator parameterizing the studied phenomenon has not been developed so far. Therefore, the present authors have attempted to design a universal land fragmentation indicator (D-i) that would constitute an underlying feature for identification of rural areas for land consolidation projects. The indicator is composed of four types of data: number of dwelling plots within the precinct (m(i)), number of agricultural plots within the precinct with the registration unit number matching the number of one of the dwellings (n(i)), the total length of passages within the precinct connecting the dwelling to other agricultural plots forming the same registration unit as the dwelling, along the existing roads (Sigma s(i)) and the surface area of the precinct (P-i). Analyses were carried out in 333 villages in the poviat of Biala Podlaska situated in Lublin voivodeship in eastern Poland, covering an area of 275,340 ha, split into 276,572 plots. The publication presents the indicator of fragmentation of agricultural land including its practical application on the test sample.