<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Agricultural land is facing challenges due to different human activities. Accelerated urbanisation along with explosive economic growth has further worsened the shortage of agricultural land over the last two decades. Kosovo, a country with small areas suitable for agriculture is meeting challenges due to unplanned settlement extension, coal surface mining, parcelisation of properties, etc. This paper consists in an analysis of the agricultural land fund in Kosovo, in quality, production potential and food security for the population, but also the challenges facing Kosovo with this strategic resource. The article analyses three main factors that have made the biggest changes in agricultural land in Kosovo: the effects of settlement extension, coal surface mining and parcelisation in reducing the soil fund. Some of the effects have triggered significant socio-economic processes that have changed the rural environment. Other important risks of agricultural land in Kosovo are: pollution, landfills, frequent floods, etc.</p></abstract>

Agricultural land is facing challenges due to different human activities. Accelerated urbanisation along with explosive economic growth has further worsened the shortage of agricultural land over the last two decades. Kosovo, a country with small areas suitable for agriculture is meeting challenges due to unplanned settlement extension, coal surface mining, parcelisation of properties, etc. This paper consists in an analysis of the agricultural land fund in Kosovo, in quality, production potential and food security for the population, but also the challenges facing Kosovo with this strategic resource. The article analyses three main factors that have made the biggest changes in agricultural land in Kosovo: the effects of settlement extension, coal surface mining and parcelisation in reducing the soil fund. Some of the effects have triggered significant socio-economic processes that have changed the rural environment. Other important risks of agricultural land in Kosovo are: pollution, landfills, frequent floods, etc.

Processes Affecting Sustainable Use of Agricultural Land in Kosovo

Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences

Quaestiones Geographicae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Processes Affecting Sustainable Use of Agricultural Land in Kosovo"}

Agricultural land is facing challenges due to different human activities. Accelerated urbanisation along with explosive economic growth has further worsened...

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
agriculture, forestry and fishing	12.7	12.6	14.0	14.1	12.2	12.0	11.9	10.3	10.5
mining and quarring	3.1	2.3	3.1	2.6	2.3	2.2	2.1	2.0	2.1
manufacturing	11.1	12.1	11.1	10.3	10.9	11.0	10.3	10.8	11.0
wholesale and retail trade	11.6	12.5	12.2	11.1	12.1	12.3	12.4	12.3	12.3
construction	6.6	6.6	6.4	7.5	6.7	6.6	6.0	6.8	6.5
transport and storage	3.3	3.8	3.9	3.9	3.7	4.4	3.5	3.6	3.6
real estate acitivities	11.0	10.2	9.5	8.7	8.6	8.9	9.0	8.6	8.0
others	40.6	39.9	39.8	41.8	43.5	42.6	44.8	45.6	46.0

Year	2010		2015
Agricultural land use	Area (ha)	%	Area (ha)	%
arable land and gardens	262,098	50.0	183,169	44.8
orchard and vineyards	9,433	1.8	8,909	2.2
meadows and pastures	252,769	48.2	240,274	58.8
total	524,300	100.0	408,559	100.0

Processes Affecting Sustainable Use of Agricultural Land in Kosovo

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 53 - 66

Received: Mar 03, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/quageo-2018-0035

Keywords
agricultural land, sustainable development, urbanisation, parcelisation, degradation, Kosovo

© 2018 Ibrahim Ramadani et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Figs 5–6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Share of agriculture in GDP in % compared with some other acitivities.

The structure of agricultural land by usage category.

Agricultural land by size.

Processes Affecting Sustainable Use of Agricultural Land in Kosovo

Published Online: Dec 31, 2018

Page range: 53 - 66

Received: Mar 03, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/quageo-2018-0035

Keywordsagricultural land, sustainable development, urbanisation, parcelisation, degradation, Kosovo

© 2018 Ibrahim Ramadani et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Figs 5–6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Share of agriculture in GDP in % compared with some other acitivities.

The structure of agricultural land by usage category.

Agricultural land by size.

Keywords
agricultural land, sustainable development, urbanisation, parcelisation, degradation, Kosovo