1.5 Rural Areas
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Background Report 1.5 Rural areas Rural areas constitute one of the most important issues of spatial planning in the VISION area. Some of these problems are common to those of other parts of Europe, others are very specific to this region or to some parts of this region: 85% of the VISION space can be regarded as rural area. That is exactly the same percentage as in the EU. The share of rural population in the total population is ca. 40-45%, which is somewhat higher than the 35% OECD average. The main difference, however, is that in the eastern half of the VISION area 46% of the rural working population and 19% of the total working population is employed in agriculture, while in the OECD the same indicator is 14 % for the rural working population and 6% of the total working population, respectively. These figures are, however, very different according to countries, on the one hand, and extremely uncertain, on the other. In this part of Europe, it is difficult to define who is an agricultural earner and who is not. A large part even of urban population is of rural origin and they are performing some part-time agricultural activities. According to estimations, more than half of the Hungarian population performed some agricultural activity at a time when the official employment share has been already below 15%. Similar experiences could be cited from other countries. This reflects also the importance of agriculture for the countries and societies of this region. Box No. 3 The definition of rural areas There were several efforts and experiments of defining rural areas. One of the most recent ones is that initiated by the OECD. Considering the declining share of employment in agriculture in OECD member countries, the definition is not related to agriculture, but only to population density. According to this definition, basic administrative units, having lower population density than 150 per km2, are regarded as rural areas. While there could be no doubt that this indicator is adequately reflecting the circumstances of most of the OECD member countries, it is not quite adequate if applied to some VISION countries. There are two reasons for it: (1) As a result of the rapid population growth, several regions surpassed this upper population density threshold, still, they have a rural character both in respect to activity structure and living circumstances. E.g. according to this definition, 81% of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija should have been regarded as urban and not rural area - a proportion higher than in any other European country. Moreover, in 2010 there would be no rural areas in Kosovo at all. Obviously this conclusion is wrong. High population density aggravates the problems of this rural area, but does not alter its character. Kosovo is not the only area of this type: similar - though smaller - areas can be found in Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Moldova, western and south-western Ukraine, north-east-Romania and south-east Poland as well. (2) Most of the problems of central and southeast European rural areas are closely and inseparably connected to agriculture. Therefore, to separate rural areas and agricultural areas is not a productive approach in this region, even if in many rural areas not the agriculture is the main employer and source of income. Therefore, we would propose a combined criterion for this area: rural areas are those with a population density of less than 150 per km2, or with a share of agricultural employment over 15%. This definition of rural population refers to the classification of communities. Furthermore it would be reasonable to classify rural regions according to three types in relation to the proportion of rural population within their bounda- ries. This is in accordance with already defined OECD indicators: - Predominantly rural regions: more than 50% rural population, - Significantly rural regions: between 15% and 50% rural population, - Predominantly urbanised regions: less than 15% rural population. 18 Part One: THE HERITAGE Box No. 4 The recent history of rural areas The present situation is to be seen also in historical context. Between the two World Wars and immediately after World War II, these countries were of overwhelmingly agricultural character. The share of agricultural employment was in Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Moldova over 80%, in Romania and Bulgaria between 70 and 80%, in Hungary, Slovenia and in the eastern and southern regions of Italy around 60%, even in Bavaria close to 40% (at the same time in Saxony only 15%, in the Czech Republic 25%). Almost everywhere, there was overpopu- lation in agricultural areas, productivity and living standards, compared to urban areas, were very low. Between the two World Wars, and after World War II, radical land reforms were carried out in all countries in the eastern part of the VISION area. They contributed to a more equitable distribution of land and offered existence to the rural unemployed, they did not solve, however, the problems stemming from low productivity, overpopulation and poverty. In the 1950s, with the partial exception of Poland and Yugoslavia, a collectivisation of the agricultural land, cultivated so far by smallhold- ers, took place in all countries of the region under communist rule. Collectivisation was enforced by political, economic and sometimes violent means. These events were, undoubtedly, a big trauma for the whole peasantry, some of them resisted, much more fled from agriculture. But, despite these dramatic events, the 1960s and 1970s were the years of dynamic growth in central European agriculture. The factors contributing to this development were the following: - the forced industrialisation and the flight of people from rural areas freed the rural areas from the population pressure which blocked mod- ernisation so far. Agriculture could be modernised, productivity could be increased, - the established big agricultural collective farms could utilise - even if only partly - the economies of scale and through this they could increase productivity and competitiveness, even if their methods of management, incentives and marketing were on a rather low level; - a big and protectionist market was ensured for agriculture. The food consumption of the local population grew dynamically. These coun- tries did not import any food from the western markets. And for countries having agricultural surplus, the big food market of the Soviet Union proved to be not insatiable. - finally, the state subsidised the agriculture - at least the big collective and state farms - by providing underpriced agricultural machinery, chemicals and fuel and by favourable credit terms and offered export subsidies. The support, given to collectivised agriculture led - indirectly - to a certain convergence of rural living conditions and technical infrastructure to the urban standards. This process was, of course, very different according to countries. In Poland and in Yugoslavia, collectivisation didn't take place at large scale, but other conditions (industrialisation, secured market and subsidies) were more or less the same. The situation of rural areas was very different even within the countries. In peripheral areas, in areas with unfavourable natural conditions and in smaller villages the situation was much worse than in other areas. A large part of the population left these areas and settlements, only old people stayed. Technical infrastructure was missing, social care for the elderly was non-existent. In the seventies and eighties authorities followed a rural centralisation policy. The number of collective farms was reduced, huge big farms, in Bulgaria "agroindustrial complexes", were established, in fact, co-operatives were converted into state farms. They comprised several rural communities. However, the management was, generally, not in the position to control efficiently such huge areas. Rural municipalities were also consolidated, smaller villages lost their own elected bodies and administrations. In many cases, schools were closed, doctors' ambulances ceased to exist. All these measures reinforced the decline of smaller and peripheral settlements. It is, of course, a world-wide phenomenon, but in many central European countries it was forcibly accelerated. The extreme case for that plan was the "village systematisation" in Romania, which aimed to destroy smaller villages and to move rural population into larger urban-type settlements. Fortunately, the collapse of the regime foiled this plan, it was implemented only in smaller areas, mainly around Bucharest. 19 Background Report Map 4: Active population in agriculture 20 Part One: THE HERITAGE Urbanisation and urban housing construction could not keep pace with industrialisation and with economic structural change. In many countries, there were even administrative measures implemented to restrict migration into the cities. As a consequence, a large part of industrial and other non-agricultural workers were forced to stay in their rural homes and commute - daily, weekly or monthly - to their urban workplace. But even members and employees of the collective agricultural farm organisations were not all engaged in agricultural activity. Co-operatives were obliged to employ all their members and, since it was impossible to employ all of them in agriculture proper, they established smaller or even medium size industrial, manufacturing, processing and construction plants and employed a large part of their members and employees here. Consequently, the social composition