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Agricultural Activity in Moldova and its Effect on Soil

Sophia Yanishevsky
0970729

1. Introduction:

Soil is essential for all life on earth as it functions as a habitat for countless organisms, a

medium for all vegetation, and acts as a water filtration system (eSchooltoday, 2019). Just as

every other natural system, soil is equipped with the ability to sustain itself through natural

disruptions such as landslides and floods. However, human activities like farming and

deforestation have long-term effects that cause extreme environmental damage. Soil erosion

caused by agriculture is one of the primary causes of land degradation (Dietrich, 2019). Soil is a

non-renewable resource because it requires approximately 3000 years in order to be considered

fertile (Eniscuola). Good quality soil is limited and extremely valuable to countries like Moldova

that rely heavily on its agriculture industry. The management of good quality soil determines

their future ability to sustain ourselves and our overall survival.

Moldova suffers from severe soil erosion due to its past disregard for its environment,

and its low abundance of trees plays a major role in soil erosion and soil fertility. This affects

Moldova’s economy through lower agricultural productivity. Figure 1 shows the land, forest and

water distribution in Moldova, demonstrating a low percentage of forested land. The aim of this

paper is to examine the soil in Moldova and the negative environmental impacts from the

country’s agriculture industry and provide possible solutions that could be implemented.
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Figure 1: Map of Moldova and the distribution of its natural resources in 2004 (Shaker,
2015).

2. Impact of Human Activity:

The mismanagement resources and poor farming techniques can turn agriculture into an

extremely destructive activity. The amount of productive land available per person in 2050 is

projected to be only a quarter of the amount that was available in 1960 and with a growing

population, this projection is unsustainable (Arsenault, 2014). Under the rule of the U.S.S.R,

environmentally destructive farming practices were imposed onto the countries they ruled

(Environmental, 2009). The damages done to Moldova’s soil quality were irreparable, and after

the collapse of the U.S.S.R in 1991, the Moldovan government encouraged better farming

techniques in order to conserve the remaining fertile soil (Environmental, 2009). Figure 2 shows

a downward trend in the amount of agricultural land since the Soviet period. In 1992, the amount
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of land used for agriculture was 77.88% and it decreased to 74.81% in 2015. One possible

explanation for the observed trend is the overuse of fertile soil due to the practices of the USSR,

resulting in a reduction of productive land available for use.

Figure 2: Line graph representing the amount of land used for agriculture in Moldova from
1992-2015 (Trading, 2019).

One of the main sources of soil degradation from agricultural activities is the overuse of

farming chemicals (Arsenault, 2014). During the U.S.S.R reign, chemical fertilizers and

pesticides, some of which are now forbidden, were cheap and easily accessible (Plop,

Sofronescu, Svetlana, and CEBOTARI, 2018). At that time, Moldova was using approximately

40,000 tons of chemicals annually (Plop, Sofronescu, Svetlana, and CEBOTARI, 2018). High

levels of chemicals disrupt ecosystems by poisoning soil and water systems, ultimately affecting

the overall public health by increasing the risk of deadly diseases (Environmental, 2009). Over

the last 20 years, it has been revealed that neuronal disorders and degenerative diseases are

associated with exposure to several pesticides (Sharma and Singhvi, 2017). Additionally, some

agrochemicals affect the human endocrine and immune system, as well as increase the chance of

developing cancer (Sharma and Singhvi, 2017). The U.S.S.R used harmful chemicals and

pesticides in Moldova that it has become apparent that Moldavian’s are still dealing with the
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consequences. Figure 3 displays the three main causes of death in Moldova; circulatory system

disease, cancer (malignant neoplasms), and digestive system disease (Data, 2019).

Figure 3: Top six causes of death in Moldova in 2018 per 100,000 people (Statistica, 2019).

The agricultural industry is hugely responsible for soil erosion, which has quickly

become a contributing factor to climate change and economic losses. Soil and climate are

codependent meaning different climates affect the rate and type of soil formation, whilst soil acts

as a climate stabilizing system. Soil is a part of the carbon cycle and it traps CO2 emissions from

decomposing plants (Science, 2015, pg2). If the soil is disturbed, the trapped CO2 will be

released into the atmosphere thereby accelerating the rising global temperature (Science, 2015,

pg2). All agricultural activities disturb soil, which in turn increases the amount of CO2 being

released. Topsoil is loose and susceptible to wind and water erosion, and the runoff of loose soil,

leads to extra sediment settling into nearby water system. Due to past usage of toxic chemicals,

Moldova contains a high level of contaminated soil (Leah, 2016). Small rivers in Moldova were

tested for their water quality, and the results showed a high degree of pollution caused by the

runoff of contaminated soil (Leah, 2016). The contamination of water has lead to 44% of
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Moldova’s population without access to safe drinking water (Fresh, 2019). Soil fertility is also

affected by agricultural activities, it decreases when soil erosion occurs, which in turn causes

weaker productivity and financial losses. In 2016, the financial loss from soil erosion was an

estimated 1.5-3 billion MDL (Leah, 2016). Moldova’s economy relies heavily on agriculture-

approximately 10-12% of Moldova’s GDP, and 26-28% of the labour force stems from this

industry (World Bank PDF, pg1). It is vital for the survival of the country to have strong

agricultural productivity, however unsustainable farming techniques that mismanage soil will

ultimately prevent the industry, and economy, from growing. Production increases over time, but

its fluctuations causes the agricultural economy to be vulnerable to external influences; tariffs,

demand and climate change, see figure 4 (World Bank PDF, pg4).

Figure 4: Agricultural Production in Moldova from 1996-2014. Constant 1996 prices (World
Bank PDF, pg4).

3. Evaluation:

After gaining independence, the Moldovan government wanted to reform the agriculture

industry with hopes of preventing further land degradation. A land reform policy was
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implemented that allowed for farmers to become land owners (Wolfgang and Wolfgang, 2003).

However, the privatization of land made it difficult for the government to monitor farming

techniques and resources management. After the policy was implemented, soil erosion levels

began to increase which lead to a decrease in soil fertility (Wolfgang and Wolfgang, 2003). The

policy was revised and improved upon in 1995, stabilizing the effects of the policy (Committee,

1998). Farmers were given the options of remaining on a restructured state or collective farm, or

becoming private by withdrawing their land and assets from the corporation (World Bank, 2006).

Table 1 shows that majority of the farmers chose to leave the corporate farms and become

associated with private organizations (World Bank, 2006).

Table 1: Number of private (new forms) farmers in Moldova after

implementation of land reform policy. (World Bank, 2006)

The private sector controls over 50% of the industry, and in 2003, it produced over 70%

of the overall agricultural output (World Bank, 2006). It was proven that smaller individual farms

are more efficient and have a higher productivity than corporate farms (World Bank, 2006). The
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new land reform policy was effective in boosting the country’s economy post-U.S.S.R by

increasing agricultural productivity and efficiency. It also improved the management of resources

since private farmers were using their resources more efficiently (World Bank, 2006). The land

reform policy does not tackle the major environmental issue of soil erosion, but it did ultimately

improve resource management since the majority of the industry used their resources more

efficiently.

Over a third of Moldova’s farmland deals with serious soil erosion (World Bank, 2013).

Lack of trees coincides with high levels of soil erosion because tree roots prevent soil from being

eroded by wind and water (World Bank, 2013). An effective solution to soil erosion would be to

increase the percentage of forested land in Moldova. In 2013, only 11% of Moldova’s land was

forested, so to decrease the high levels of soil erosion, the government, with the help of the

World Bank, set a goal to increase forested land to 15% (World Bank, 2013). Additionally,

environmental activists in Moldova are fighting to improve environmental conditions by getting

involved with organizations like the Million Trees Initiative, which has a goal of planting one

million trees world-wide (Bunting, 2017). This initiative became active in Moldova in 2015, and

by 2017, they established three planting sessions in three settlements across the country

(Bunting, 2017). This is a long-term solution as it will take at least a couple decades for the trees

to grow and reduce soil erosion, but the future results of these actions will ultimately strengthen

Moldova’s economy, as well as repair the ecological damages from the Soviet period.

The Moldovan government placed a ban on many chemicals that were used during the

Soviet era, however the country is still dealing with the consequences. In 2007, the Moldovan

Ministry of Defence partnered with NATO for a three-phase project that planned on removing
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and destroying the remaining chemicals left from the Soviet period with the intentions of

preventing further soil contamination (Nato, 2013). The last phase, beginning in 2013 destroyed

approximately 950 tonnes of chemicals during this time, but the facilities that stored these

chemicals still remained active (Nato, 2013). They presented a danger to the environment and

public health, since the deterioration of these facilities were caused more chemicals to seep into

the soil, and farmers continued to use them to store their grain (Nato, 2013). The project ended in

2018 with the removal of the final batch of pesticides (Chisinau, 2018), however the

contaminated storage facilities still pose a problem to Moldova. A possible solution would be for

the government to replace the old storage facilities so that the harmful chemicals could not

further damage the environment and the health of the Moldovan people.

4. Recommendation:

The large-scale reforestation project was one of the more effective policies that the

Moldovan government implemented. The results from this project will allow for Moldova to

combat one of its biggest environmental and economic issue; soil erosion. This issue is deemed

important to the government as well as its citizens, and it is proven by the extra initiative taken

by Moldavian activists, in addition to the government project. However, one disadvantage of this

project is the slow manifestation of results. The lack of immediate visible changes may be

discouraging, especially to farmers that are struggling to cope with the present effects of soil

erosion.

The reforestation project is crucial to Moldova’s future, but the current condition state

must also be considered. I would recommend for the Moldovan government to invest in
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infrastructure that mimics the effect of trees on soil which would help with reducing soil erosion

levels on a short-term basis. For example, retaining walls that are carefully placed in areas with

high levels of soil erosion are able to instantly reduce soil erosion caused by wind or water

(Huge Benefits, 2019). These walls prevent soil runoff by reducing the speed of the surface

water, ultimately restricting the amount of topsoil that is lost due to water erosion (Huge

Benefits, 2019).

Moldova suffered a difficult past under the Soviet rule and is still dealing with the

challenging environmental and economic consequences. The economy has been slowly

recovering since its peak economic crisis in 1999 (Environmental, 2009), though dealing with

the environmental damages remains difficult. The agriculture industry in Moldova caused a lot of

damage, some of it irreparable such as the loss of fertile soil, and the unsustainable farming

techniques used in the past remain a threat. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, that

have now been removed and banned, caused an influx in disease as well as high levels of

contaminated water and soil. Additionally, this past disregard for the environment has caused

high levels of soil erosion which has impacted the current agricultural productivity and output of

the whole country. Through new policies and initiatives, strict environmental laws and

investment in infrastructure, Moldova will have the opportunity to become an economically and

environmentally prosperous country.

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