Soil conservation extension in Romania

Soil Conservation extension activity in Romania is part of mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Academy of Agricultural and Forest Sciences. This activity is very important because almost all the potentially arable lands (about 95 per cent) are already brought under the plough, and huge land reclamation works have been carried out for irrigation (3.2 mil. ha), drainage (3.1 mil. ha), soil erosion control (2.2 mil. ha), etc. For providing better knowledge and management of natural resource base of agriculture, soil survey and testing works at national and local level have been performed, covering almost all the arable lands with soil maps at large scale (including land capability and soil suitability). Since 1975, a national soil quality monitoring system has been initiated, whose results point out the main soil conservation problems that must be considered within the soil conservation extension activity aiming at the sustainable agricultural and rural development, such as: soil erosion by water (7.1 mil. ha), landslide (0.7 mil. ha), low content of organic matter (7.2 mil. ha) and nitrogen (6.2 mil ha), low and very low available phosphorus content (6.2 mil. ha), zinc deficiency (1.5 mil. ha), strong and moderate acidity (3.4 mil. ha), structure deterioration - compaction (6.5 mil ha), chemical industrial pollution (0.9 mil. ha), etc. After 1990, the privatization of agriculture has generated over 6 million private owners with no more than 10 ha per family, most of them being poor, without capital and applying a rather primitive soil and crop management. For these reasons, the soil conservation extension is in full process of development aiming at making maximum contribution to the health and welfare of people and economy of country through the enhancement of family farms, improving community services and institutions, increasing the quality of life in rural Romania and ameliorating the well-being of consumers.