Internal fragmentation of agricultural parcels
2014
Aasmaee, K., Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia) | Maasikamaee, S., Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia)
Land fragmentation is a problem for many post-communist countries. Different aspects of land fragmentation have been investigated by many researchers. However, there is little attention paid to the issues of internal fragmentation of agricultural parcels. In this study, internal fragmentation is understood as the following phenomenon: a parcel consists of different types of land plots or one land type (e.g. arable land) is split into separated plots. In this study the empirical test of internal fragmentation of arable land inside agricultural parcels has been made. The aim of the study was to examine the existence and extent of internal fragmentation of agricultural parcels. The digital map of boundaries of arable land parcels and data about land types (arable land, roads, etc.) from the Estonia National Topographic Database were the data sources of the study. The following characteristics were calculated in a GIS environment for agricultural parcels: compactness coefficient; number of pieces of arable land inside a parcel; Januszewski index for characterization of internal land fragmentation and the ratio (in percent) of arable land in a parcel. The results of the study show the existence of internal fragmentation of arable land inside agricultural parcels. Arable land is internally fragmented in about 30 percent of agricultural parcels. The area of the arable land plot inside parcels is 7.7 hectares if there is no internal fragmentation. In the case of internal fragmentation of the arable land, this area is 5.6 hectares respectively.
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