Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
A comparative analysis on intensi"cation and extensi"cation
in mediterranean agriculture: dilemmas for LFAs policyq
Helen Caraveli*
Department of Economics, The Athens University of Economics and Business, Patission 76, 104 34 Athens, Greece
Abstract
Despite the low degree of production intensixcation relatively to northern countries, rising overall trends in the intensi"cation
process are apparent in the plains of the lowland of Mediterranean countries, following the extensixcation (in the sense of
abandonment of traditional/extensive production systems) in mountainous communes. This development, which implied a number of
other changes in the Mediterranean farm sectors and was strengthened by the CAP, has had serious negative implications for the
environment of both the uplands and the lowlands. Current trends in the CAP point to an increasingly restrictive farm price policy
which, in some cases, is likely to a!ect negatively production and incomes. This could lead to further abandonment of production in
certain less-favoured zones of particular nature conservation value, with severe negative impacts on biodiversity and landscapes. On
the other hand, measures which are aimed to combat abandoment and marginalization in mountainous communes (e.g. the
sheepmeat regime or the LFAs Regulation) have often led to overexploitation of marginal land with equally negative environmental
implications. This paper attempts to highlight the contradictions and dilemmas which agricultural policy faces in trying to achieve less
intensive agricultural practices and to promote and preserve extensive ones, mainly in mountainous * LFAs * of the Mediterranean
region. Due to the limited statistical information available, the analysis is qualitative and based mostly on a review of the literature
rather than on original research. The conclusions make clear what policy makers have increasingly come to recognise (as is re#ected in
recent proposals for reform in the CAP): that such policy con#icts can be resolved if there is more focused support to speci"c parts of
LFAs and if environmental conditions are attached to any policy measure. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Agricultural intensi"cation; Agricultural extensi"cation; Low-intensity farming systems; LFAs regulations; CAP reform and environment
1. Introduction
Mediterranean countries have similar biophysical climatic and structural conditions (a relatively high proportion of mountainous areas * classi"ed as less-favoured
areas (LFAs) by EU criteria * limited rainfall in the
winter and high temperatures in the summer resulting in
prolonged periods of drought in many areas, small-scale
farming in most cases) and thus face similar environmental impacts from agricultural activity, which are distinct from the corresponding impacts in northern EU
q
The research for this paper was undertaken for the EU funded
project &Thematic Network on CAP and Environment in the EU'. The
paper was presented at the Workshop &CAP and Environment in the
EU', held in Wageningen (Holland) in February 5-8, 1998, and organised within the framework of the above project.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: #301-82-03-443; fax: #301-82-03301.
E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Caraveli)
countries. On the one hand, the gradual abandonment of
traditional/extensive systems in a number of regions
* as a result of their low economic competitiveness and
changing socio-economic context * which led to the
movement of population and agricultural activity to the
more fertile areas of the lowland * resulted in limited
intensi"cation relatively to northern EU countries. &As
a particularity of Mediterranean regions, intra- and inter-annual climatic variability limit the intensi"cation
process, and this limitation is determined by the stress
seasons (summer in particular) and especially by the
stress years (periodical droughts). Due to these facts,
modernisation and intensi"cation of agricultural practices have not yet important impacts on many local agrarian ecosystems' (OECD, 1997a, p. 67). On the other hand,
traditional/extensive agricultural practices are still present to a certain extent, mostly on the uplands of these
countries. Such practices, also known as &low-intensity'
farming practices, are associated with high nature conservation interest and sustainable agriculture.
0743-0167/00/$ - see front matter ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 7 4 3 - 0 1 6 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 5 0 - 9
232
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
Even though limited, the process of intensi"cation,
which has been going on for decades, is threatening
&low-intensity' systems of LFAs. The CAP has been a major factor for the strengthening of this process, thus for
the concentration of population and production in the
most productive areas of the lowland of Mediterranean
countries, reinforcing market forces in this respect. Certain policy measures aiming at reducing intensive practices (e.g. reduction of price supports or production
controls), or at promoting extensive practices (e.g.
measures to combat abandonment in LFAs) have often
had con#icting impacts in the mountainous regions of
Mediterranean countries: On the one hand, abandonment tendencies have been strengthened in a number of
areas; on the other hand, intensive practices (e.g. overexploitation of pasture lands) have been encouraged in
parts of these areas. Both types of impacts have negative
implications for biodiversity and landscapes. Current
trends in agricultural policy reveal an increased awareness of these facts and of the fact that extensive agricultural practices, should be preserved as bene"cial to the
environment and landscapes of LFAs but also of the EU
as a whole. Such trends are mainly apparent in the
proposals for change included in the &Agenda 2000' package, which envisages an increased emphasis towards &targeted agri-environmental' and other measures aiming at
the promotion of &low-input' systems.
Given the signi"cance of this topic, this paper attempts
to highlight the contradictions and dilemmas that agrienvironmental policy faces in trying to achieve less intensive agricultural practices and to preserve and promote
extensive ones, mainly in mountainous * LFAs * of
Mediterranean regions. The analysis is focused on the
four Mediterranean countries, Greece, Italy, Spain and
Portugal * even though southern France is also part of
the Mediterranean region. The Section 2 of the paper
analyses the di!erences between the agricultural sectors
of the northern and southern countries (Greece, Italy,
Spain and Portugal), which lead to the lower degree of
intensive methods in the latter. The Section 3 refers to the
maintenance of &low-intensity' systems on LFAs of Mediterranean countries. The Section 4 examines the changes
in the intensity of farming over time, the policy measures
that caused such changes and the environmental implications, by giving examples of various sectors and regions.
The above analysis is subject to the serious constraint of
the limited information and data available. It is thus
based on assembling information found in the literature
rather than on original research. Section 5 analyses policy con#icts and dilemmas in this context. Finally, Section 6 draws the conclusions.
2. Contrasting agricultural sectors
Mediterranean regions are characterised by similar
biophysical, climatic and structural conditions and in
particular by:
f a relatively high proportion of poor soils;
f high levels of precipitation de"cit (a limitation which
has been partly o!set by irrigation) * it has been
estimated that annual precipitation de"cit exceeds
500 mm/yr in most of Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal (IEEP & LEI-DLO, 1996, p. 97);
f severe structural weaknesses, which imply the persistence of a relatively high proportion of economically
marginal, or semi-subsistence, farmers.
Structural characteristics appear in Table 1, which
shows that the average farm size is much lower in Mediterranean countries (with the exception of Spain) and
Table 1
Basic structural characteristics of selected EU countries, 1993!
Northern countries
Belgium
Denmark
Germany
France
Netherlands
UK
Mediterranean countries
Greece
Italy
Spain
Portugal
EU-15
Average farm size (ha)
% of farms in the size class
of (5 ha
% of farms in the size class
of '20 ha
17.6
37.1
28.1
35.1
16.8
67.3
32.7
2.3
31.3
27.0
32.1
14.4
31.5
58.4
34.2
49.8
31.1
57.0
4.3
5.9
17.9
8.1
16.4
75.3
77.3
57.0
77.9
58.3
2.8
5.4
15.0
4.9
18.2
!Source: EUROSTAT, The Agricultural Situation in the Community. Report, 1998.
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
that the proportion of farms in the smaller size group
((5 ha) is much higher in Greece, Italy, Spain and
Portugal than in the rest of the Member States.
The unfavourable natural and structural conditions of
Mediterranean regions are re#ected in the high proportion of land with natural handicaps (e.g. altitude and
slope) or the high share of LFAs in total UAA (Utilized
Agricultural Area). This share is shown in Fig. 1. Such
Fig. 1. Less-favoured areas: Uplands.
233
conditions * which are major determinants of land
productivity and the crop production mix * favour
specialisation in Mediterranean products (see also
Mergos and Donatos, 1996; Potter, 1997, pp. 28}29).
The predominance of Mediterranean products in
southern Member States of the EU appears in Table 2,
which shows the share of northern and Mediterranean
products in "nal agricultural production of each southern country and EU as a whole. In most cases, the share
of each country in northern products is below the corresponding EU share, while the share of individual countries in Mediterranean products is above the EU average
* depending on each country's specialisation.
Due to all the above factors, the degree of intensity of
agricultural production (measured by the use of inputs/ha of agricultural land) in southern Member States
of the EU has been relatively limited. Specialisation in
Mediterranean products may be an additional factor for
the relatively limited overall degree of agricultural intensi"cation in southern Member-States, as, until comparatively recently, these products have been less protected by
the CAP in relation to northern products of the EU. The
assumption made here is that higher levels of protection
lead to increased production, which is achieved through
more intensive methods. Some authors, however, attribute greater signi"cance to the role of technological
change in the increase in production, than to that of farm
support policies (see, for example Buckwell, 1990;
Caraveli, 1998a,b).
A measure of the relatively lower degree of the intensity of production (but with rising trends) in southern
Table 2
Structure of production in Mediterranean countries and EU-15 * Shares of selected products in "nal agricultural production of each country (%)
1996
Products
Northern Products
Wheat!
Maize
Sugarbeet
Milk
Beef and real
Pigmeat
Poultry
Mediterranean products
Cotton
Tobacco
Olive oil
Fresh and other fruit & vegetables"
Wine & must
Sheep & goatmeat
Mediterranean Countries
EU-15
Greece
Italy
Spain
Portugal
3.5
2.1
1.5
12.9
2.7
2.9
2.6
4.2
3.7
1.7
11.8
5.2
8.6
2.0
1.8
1.0
1.7
8.5
7.7
13.3
4.9
1.2
2.0
0.0
12.9
7.8
12.6
7.9
5.0
1.7
0.5
18.5
11.1
11.5
4.3
10.3
1.7
11.5
24.3
2.0
6.3
0.0
0.9
4.3
23.2
8.4
0.2
1.1
0.4
4.1
28.2
3.5
4.5
0.0
0.3
2.6
17.3
12.6
3.2
0.6
0.3
1.7
14.8
5.8
1.7
!Hard wheat is a Mediterranean product.
"Including dried pulses and citrus fruit.
Source: EUROSTAT, The Agricultural Situation in the Community. Report, 1998.
234
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
Fig. 2. Classi"cation of Regions into 5 groups.
Member States is given in Table 31 (see also Caraveli,
1998a; OECD, 1997d).
The above information con"rms the basic geographical distinction to which all analysts eventually return, i.e.
the distinction between the large-scale and highly productive farming of the north-western Europe and the
small-scale, less e$cient farming of southern Europe
(Potter, 1997, p. 27). This distinction is analysed in
a study on the process of &marginalisation' in European
agriculture, in which EU regions were classi"ed under:
&highly productive regions', &medium productive regions',
&extensive farming regions', &small-scale farming regions'
and &other extensive farming regions'2 (see IEEP and
LEI-DLO (1996) for a detailed description of the characteristics of each category). This classi"cation is presented
in Fig. 2, which shows that the greatest part of northwestern EU and part of the central regions belong to the
Table 3
Indicators of production intensi"cation in selected EU countries
Countries
Northern Countries
Denmark
France
Germany
Netherlands
UK
Mediterranean Countries
Greece
Italy
Spain
Portugal
No of tractors
per km2 of
agricultural land!
Total consumption
of fertilizers (kg/ha!)
1980
1995
1980
1995
7.1
7.8
12.9
21.7
7.3
6.5
6.7
10.8
19.9
8.4
236
297
413
825
294
196
242
241
564
502
3.6
8.6
2.6
2.7
7.5
13.7
4.0
4.9
134
170
81
83
154
176
92
84
!Agricultural land corresponds to arable land and permanent crops.
Source: EUROSTAT, Environment Statistics, 1996; FAO Production
Yearbook, Vol. 50, 1996 (own calculations).
1 As can be seen, in this table the UK and the Netherlands appear as
the largest polluters. This is due to the fact that fertiliser use has been
estimated only per hectare of crops, whereas both of these countries use
heavy quantities of fertiliser on their grass as well.
2 The main indicators used for the above classi"cation are the following: % share of LFAs in UAA, SGM/ha, % share of farm holders
'55 yr, GDP/inh, share of farmholders with other gainful activities
(IEEP & LEI-DLO, 1996).
&highly productive' group of regions. The greatest part of
Greece, Italy and Portugal, as well as the eastern coastal
zone of Spain, "t in the &small-scale farming' regions. The
largest part of Spain is classi"ed as an extensive farming
region. And only a few areas (&pockets') in central and
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
northern Greece, northern Italy and northern and southern Spain belong to the &highly productive' group. It is
worth noting that there is a striking similarity between
Fig. 2 and maps which show what has been de"ned as the
Alpine-Mediterranean pattern of development (see, for
example, graph 3 in Merlo & Manente, 1994, p. 142). This
pattern of development involves the Mediterranean and
Alpine regions, from Greece to Portugal, parts of Spain,
the Mezzogiorno up to northern Italy and southern
Germany and has been quanti"ed by income per capita
and agricultural income per labour unit (Merlo
& Manente, p. 141). Clearly, agricultural development in
these regions is slow relatively to &Atlantic-northern'
European regions, with productivity and labour income
in many regions of southern Europe being about half
those of the latter group. This is partly due to natural
limitations, but a number of authors have linked it to
historical, sociological and political factors, all of which
have led to a &late economic development' in the southern
group of regions.
3. The preservation of &low-intensity' farming systems in
Mediterranean countries
Thus, the model of economic growth, which Mediterranean agricultural sectors have followed in the post-war
period, has led to the creation of only certain &pockets' of
intensive farming, mainly following the most easily accessible #at and coastal routes of the continental part of
these countries, while leaving &the inaccessible mountainous and insular regions in the shadow of this development process' (OECD, 1997a,b). A high proportion of
&low-intensity' farming activities are then still found in
many LFAs of Mediterranean countries. &Low-intensity'
or &extensive' farming is characterised by low levels of
irrigation, as well as &a sparce use of external inputs, such
as fertilisers, pesticides and machinery, and animal production based on extensive grazing and hay meadows,
and with low stocking densities' (OECD, 1997f, p. 59).
Traditional, &extensive' land use (which was based on
terraces and multicultivation of annual or permanent
crops and livestock farming) characterises a great part of
livestock production, as well as mixed farming systems.
Table 4 shows that the highest proportion of dairy,
drystock and mixed farms are found in LFAs of both
&extensive' and &small-scale farming' regions.
Some evidence for the existence of &low-intensity' farming systems in LFAs of Mediterranean countries is given
in Tables 5 and 6.
Table 5 shows that the share of irrigated areas in total
agricultural area is much lower in LFAs and Table 6, that
stocking densities (LU/ha) are lowest in LFAs * relatively to non-LFAs (with the exception of Greece). It
should be mentioned that irrigation in mountainous
Mediterranean areas is often necessary as many of these
235
Table 4
Share of farming type in total number of holdings: 1990}91
Region/major farming type (%)
Share of farming type (%)
Non-LFAs
Extensive Farming Regions
Cereal farms
General cropping farms
Horticultural holdings
Vineyards
Permanent crop holdings
Dairy farms
Drystock farms
Mixed farms
All types
Small-scale Farming Regions
Cereal farms
General cropping farms
Horticultural holdings
Vineyards
Permanent crop holdings
Dairy farms
Drystock farms
Mixed farms
All types
LFAs!
25
32
2
0
7
7
14
10
118,000
17
22
1
1
8
10
27
14
343,000
5
39
3
10
28
3
4
8
1,033,000
5
28
1
4
18
9
12
21
1,048,000
!LFAs " Less Favoured Areas.
Source: IEEP & LEI-DLO (1996, p. 131).
Table 5
Share of irrigated area in total UAA (%) (1985-1993)!
Greece
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Italy
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Spain
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Portugal
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
1985
1987
1993
25
10
46
29
16
56
30
16
57
18
6
30
19
7
31
18
8
32
*
*
*
11
8
19
10
7
18
*
*
*
23
19
38
21
17
45
!Source:Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey. Adaptation LEI-DLO, December 1997.
areas are characterized by di!erent climatic conditions
prevailing in the corresponding regions of Northern
Europe, i.e. by limited rainfall even in winter months.
However, as it is applied mostly on traditional terraced
cultivations, the low intensity of land use often does not
pay to maintain irrigated systems there. In Greece for
example, it is proposed within the framework of Reg.
2078 that terraced cultivations should be maintained in
236
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
Table 6
Livestock units per hectare (LU/ha) of UAA!
Greece
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Italy
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Spain
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Portugal
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
1985
1987
1993
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.7
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.5
0.7
0.5
0.9
0.7
0.5
0.9
0.7
0.5
1.0
*
*
*
0.5
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.5
*
*
*
0.7
0.5
1.3
0.6
0.4
1.6
!Source: Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey. Adaptation LEI-DLO, December 1997.
LFAs for the protection of the landscape and of soils
against erosion, but that these should concern dry-land
crops.
&Low-intensive' livestock production, found on the uplands, concerns the extensive rearing of cattle, sheep and
goats for milk, cheese and meat. Transhumance, the
long-established seasonal movement of stock * remains
an important management system in all countries. Significant systems are the alpeggio (found in the mountains of
northern Italy), the dehesas (in parts of north-eastern and
central-southern Spain), and the montados in (central and
far-northern Portugal)3 (IEEP, 1994). Traditional mixed
farming, found in both uplands and low-lands, concerns
all kinds of crops (e.g. cereals, vegetables, olive groves, "g
trees, almonds).4
Traditional or low-intensity farming systems are especially signi"cant for the conservation value of mountainous areas, the maintenance of semi-natural habitats
(permanent pastures and spontaneous vegetation of
natural land and a high proportion of #ora), the conservation of endangered plant and animal species, the support of considerable variety of wildlife and the
preservation of traditional landscapes. They, thus, permit
a sustainable use of environmental resources and create
very little risk of soil degradation or environmental
pollution (OECD, 1997f). These systems are however
3 Some researchers, however, express doubts as to whether the dehesas and the montados can be called transhumance.
4 For a detailed analysis of the types of production, the main forms of
management, the extent and location and the environmental signi"cance of &low-intensity' systems in each Mediterranean country, see
IEEP, 1994.
threatened by the changes in the intensity of farming,
which have characterised Mediterranean * just like
other European * agricultural sectors during the whole
post-war period, and in particular by the combination of
abandonment and intensixcation processes. Such changes
are analysed in the following section.
4. Changes in the intensity of farming over time:
agricultural policy impacts and environmental
implications
The farmed landscapes in southern European countries have, in the last 20 years or so, been undergoing
a process of intensixcation of the most productive land,
coupled with the extensixcation (or abandonment of
farming) of poorer lands. The latter can also be described
as marginalisation or slow decline of traditional, mixed
and extensive farming practices, and livestock farming
* a process which has taken place in north-western EU
countries at an earlier date (Potter, 1997, p. 36; Caraveli,
1998a,b). This development, which re#ects the transition
from subsistence agriculture to a market oriented one,
has followed: (a) socio-economic changes * corresponding to di!erent stages of economic development * such
as the abandonment of mountainous communes and the
movement of the population to the plains (when farms in
upland areas ceased to be economically viable); (b) the
rapid expansion of mass tourism in recent decades (c)
agricultural policy changes, such as the adoption of the
CAP (Caraveli, 1998a,b; OECD, 1997a,c).
Intensixcation of production methods implied: (a) the
expansion of irrigation on the fertile areas and to dryland
areas of the lowland (see Table 5 of the previous section),
which made possible the far greater use of fertilizers,
obviated the need for fallowing and led to high yields/ha;
(b) the increased use of environmentally polluting inputs
in both arable cultivation and permanent crops; (c) the
changing land use and structure of production, often with
an expansion of arable land at the expense of permanent
grassland and an intensi"cation of grassland management.
Further evidence on irrigation in Greece reveals that,
in the plains, irrigated areas increased from 17% in 1963
to 45% of total agricultural land in 1996. The increase
was much lower in semi-mountainous areas in the same
period (i.e. from 11 to 24%), while there was almost no
increase in mountainous areas. This led to the very high
fertilizer consumption/ha (exceeding the &optimum' level
of fertilization) in the regions of intensive cultivations and
the much lower consumption/ha (below the &optimum'
level) in mountainous areas, where extensive/non-irrigated cultivations prevail (Caraveli, 1998a,b). These developments went hand in hand with changes in the
structure of farm production, very much strengthened
by incentives (price support and other types of aids)
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
provided by the CAP; such changes reveal an increase in
the importance of industrial crops * i.e. cotton, sugarbeet and new tobacco varieties * of maize and most tree
crops * e.g. oranges, apples, pears, peaches, etc. * all
demanding intensive production methods and in which
monocultivation prevails. Irrigation has expanded to
areas occupied by arable crops (e.g. cotton, maize and
sugarbeet), so that cotton and maize production * whose
impressive increase in the last 20 yr is related to high
yields per ha * together occupy 42% of irrigated land
(Caraveli, 1998a,b).
A similar pattern of expansion of irrigation to arable
land can be seen in the more productive areas of Spain,
Portugal and Italy, where hundreds of thousands of
hectares of grassland have been cleared for cultivation
(IEEP, 1994, p. 42). This permitted a general intensi"cation of arable production from the 1970s onwards, &a
process much accelerated by the CAP' (Potter, 1997, p.
37). In Spain, since 1973, 1.4 million hectares of agricultural land have been converted to irrigation, with the
result that the national proportion of arable land left
fallow decreased from over 50% in 1973 to less than 40%
* which is a good indicator of the overall intensi"cation
of arable cultivation (IEEP, 1994, p. 44; Varela-Ortega
and Sumpsi, 1998). Dryland arable cultivation in Spain
has also been intensi"ed in recent years, in a number of
areas, particularly with the widespread introduction of
modern varieties and inorganic fertilisers, and &monocultural systems (e.g. an expansion of crops such as sugarbeet, which require high levels of pesticides/ha) are
steadily being displacing the traditional rich mosaic of
arable crops, vines, olives and other permanent crops
that o!ers a rich habitat for steppeland birds' (Ibid and
Potter, 1997, p. 37). What is more important is that the
continued viability of low-yielding dryland cultivation
seems to be under serious threat, except in the case of
very large holdings, which can compete on economic
terms. In Italy, the process of agricultural intensi"cation
(also described as a polarization trend), and the underlying technological developments, has been quanti"ed with
the use of a Concentration Index (CI) of Agricultural
Gross Product (AGP), which is considered as the best
indicator of agricultural intensi"cation. (see Bordin et al.,
1998, pp. 245-46). The CI, which distinguishes the contribution of lowland, hilly and mountainous areas to AGP,
was found to have increased from 0.26 in 1960 to 0.40 in
1989, while AGP was found to have increased substantially between the 1960s and today, mostly in lowland
areas (Ibid Bordin et al., Fig. 2 and p. 246). A similar
index was not possible to be constructed in the other
countries due to lack of the required data
Regions of &high-intensity' cultivations can be seen in
Fig. 2. These are: in Greece, mainly the fertile region of
Thessaly (in central Greece) and parts of Macedonia (in
northern Greece) * but also fertile areas in the Peloponese (in southern Greece) and in big islands (e.g. the
237
Mesara plain in Crete); in Italy, the northern regions of
Veneto, Piedmond, Lombardia and Emilia Romana; in
Spain, the wet northern regions of Cantabria, Galicia and
Cataluna (where orchards are planted), as well as parts of
the south; in Portugal, the coastal plains and around the
main river valleys (IEEP, 1994).
The intensi"cation process in the lowland has undoubtedly enabled farmers to increase yields, diversify
(restructure) cultivations and improve product quality.
Its environmental impact however has been the uncontrollable rise in the level of pollution and soil erosion, as
well as the exhaustion of water resources and the deterioration in the quality of waters.
Intensixcation has also a!ected many traditional (lowintensive) cultivations (such as olive groves or vines) in
the uplands (LFAs) or the low-lands * see the examples
given on Greece later on. In Spain, about 120,000 ha of
olive groves in parts of the South (where olive groves are
the dominant type of cultivation with large areas under
traditional management still existing) are now irrigated,
therefore more intensively cultivated. Intensive management is now also present in traditional vine cultivation
(IEEP, 1994).
Intensi"cation also threatens the Portuguese montados and the Spanish dehesas: signi"cant declines in the
area of dehesas have been reported in Extremadura and
western Andalucia, the outcome being steady erosion due
to neglect and conversion to more specialised arable use,
often facilitated by irrigation (Potter, 1997, p. 37).
Extensixcation of productive practices, which is often
the outcome of abandonment of many mountainous regions * LFAs * has led to a dramatic decline in the
arable area as largely self-su$cient rural societies have
collapsed or contracted and abandoned subsistence cultivation. This process has been going on in Greece, Italy,
Spain and Portugal for many decades. Portugal is one of
the few countries where data concerning land abandonment is readily available: in the 1989 farm census, over
245,000 ha of farmland were classi"ed as recently abandoned with clear concentrations in interior regions
(IEEP, 1994p.43). Table 7 gives some indication of abandonment of LFAs, where labour input/ha is lower than in
non-LFAs (the declining trend in this indicator between
1987 and 1993 in all areas reveals that farm population
continues to decrease everywhere).
In all Mediterranean countries, environmentally valuable permanent crops, such as the traditional olive groves
and vines, are increasingly neglected or abandoned because of poor economic returns, high labour costs and
di$culty in mechanising low-input production techniques. These trends have often been reinforced by EU
and national grants for removing old permanent crops
(IEEP, 1994, p. 44) and in some areas replacing them by
a more intensive crop (it should be mentioned that modern systems of permanent crop cultivation usually involve a high use of pesticides/ha (IEEP, 1994). For
238
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
Table 7
Annual work unit per hectare (AWU!/ha) of UAA" (%)
Greece
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Italy
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Spain
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Portugal
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
1987
1993
0.22
0.20
0.26
0.20
0.19
0.22
0.14
0.12
0.16
0.12
0.11
0.15
0.07
0.06
0.08
0.04
0.04
0.06
0.30
0.25
0.46
0.15
0.12
0.32
!AWU"Annual Work Unit.
"UAA"Utilized Agricultural Area.
Source: Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey. Adaptation LEI-DLO, December 1997.
example, in Greece, the application of regulation 1442/88
for wine, resulted in the uprooting of 10,000 ha of vines in
the 1988}94 period. A high proportion of areas abandoned is located on mountainous and semi-mountainous
communes, all of which produce high-quality wines.
Also, in many upland areas, traditional olive groves have
been uprooted and replaced by new mechanised (i.e.
more intensive) cultivations, in response to increased
CAP subsidies, leading to monocultivation of olives; this
implied the destruction of terraces and the clearing of
forests.5 All of these resulted in severe erosion of the soil
and further depopulation of the area. Furthermore, the
introduction of maximum guaranteed quantity with the
use of quotas in tobacco cultivation, from 1992 onwards,
led to the restructuring of production away from oriental
varieties and towards other varieties (e.g. the &Virginia'
variety), which implied the abandonment of speci"c areas
of signi"cant environmental value in the uplands
(Caraveli, 1998a,b).
Intensixcation and extensixcation have also a!ected
livestock production of southern Member States over the
last decades. Intensive methods appear to have a!ected
pigs and poultry production as is evident from the increase in the share of these animals in total LU in
5 The clearing of native Mediterranean forests has taken place in
other countries as well (e.g. Italy), but generally to a limited extent and
within the framework of the so-called reforestation projects "nanced by
national governments. Also, in most countries, the uprooting of traditional olive groves and their substitution with more intensive crops
took place mainly on agricultural land (comments by an anonymous
referree to this paper).
non-LFAs (and the decrease in this share in LFAs in all
countries), shown in Table 8. In Greece these sectors have
undergone marked intensi"cation since accession to the
EU in 1981.
Sheep and goat production have been characterised by
extensixcation in some areas and intensixcation in some
others. Abandonment of many mountainous areas has
been largely the outcome of the decline in transhumance,
which has signi"cant negative impacts on the farmed
landscape by leaving large areas of sub-alpine pasture
neglected (Caraveli, 1998b). It is estimated that in Greece,
40% of all mountain pastures (including pasture, wooded
pasture and scrub) were undergrazed. This "gure includes previously grazed areas in the mountains which
had become highly eroded (IEEP, 1994, p. 48). In Spain,
many upland regions have experienced an almost continual decline in sheep numbers over many decades.
These developments have induced a concentration of
production on the pastureland with the highest production potential (Potter, 1997, p. 37) and a shift towards
more sedentary systems, which are less labour-intensive
and imply &an increase in the overall stocking density
over the course of the year, achieved either by intensi"cation of fodder production on the holding or by increased
dependence on purchased feeds' (IEEP, 1994, p. 48).
Some evidence for this is given in Table 6 of the previous
section, where in some countries between 1985 or 1987
and 1993, stocking densities have increased in non-LFAs
and decreased or remained constant in LFAs. Moreover,
in many extensive livestock areas of Spain (e.g. the dehesas of western Spain), there has been a tendency for
farmers to switch from sheep to cattle (which require less
labour). With the exception of a few mountain areas, the
growth in sheep numbers since EU accession has been
mainly in the plains, often in irrigated areas (IEEP, 1994,
p. 45). This is shown in Table 8, in which the share of
&other grazing livestock' in total LU appears to be increasing in non-LFAs of Spain, but decreasing in LFAs
(the opposite appears to be the case in the other countries).
An increase in stocking densities has also taken place
in some marginal areas of southern countries (where
overstocking has occurred), mainly as a result of the
increased incentives for production in such regions
(LFAs), particularly the subsidies under the CAP sheep
and goat regime (such as the Sheep Annual Premium), as
well as the special LFAs payments. Data on local stocking densities is generally not available, but the increase in
the share of &other grazing livestock' in LFAs in Greece,
Italy and Portugal, shown in Table 8, is an indication for
this phenomenon (see also the higher stocking density in
LFAs of Greece in Table 6). In Spain, such information is
available only for a few areas. For example, in a study on
Sierra de Castril Natural Park, in the province of
Granada, it was shown that the current stocking level of
20,000 sheep and goats grazing on 12,000 ha needs to be
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
239
Table 8
Share of each type of livestock in total livestock units (LU) (%)
Greece
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Italy
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Spain
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Portugal
All areas
LFAs
Non-LFAs
Share of dairy & other cattle in
LU-total
Share of other grazing livestock! in
LU-total
Share of pigs & poultry in
LU-total
1987
1993
1987
1993
1987
1993
20
18
23
17
15
21
58
63
44
61
68
43
22
19
33
23
18
36
53
54
53
49
49
51
9
19
4
12
25
4
38
28
43
39
26
47
35
36
34
33
37
27
22
29
7
22
26
15
42
35
59
45
37
59
43
44
39
39
43
34
18
25
7
18
28
5
40
30
53
43
29
61
!Other grazing livestock includes sheep, goats and equires.
Source: Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey. Adaptation LEI-DLO, December 1997.
reduced by 30% to achieve a sustainable situation. On
average, stocking densities in the dehesas of Extremadura
had risen to around two sheep per hectare by the mid1980s, approximately double traditional levels (IEEP,
1994, p. 49).
The environmental implications from both abandonment and over-exploitation are serious: in both cases the
productive capacity of mountainous and semi- mountainous soils is lost for good and extensive grazing lands
have been degraded to a dangerous level and are now
unsuitable for grazing. The collapse of traditional farming systems and the consequent marginalisation of the
areas a!ected led to an increase in the deserti"cation
process6 and the conditions leading to soil erosion, the
invasion of scrub, and the increased incidence of forest
"res and major #oods (IEEP & LEI-DLO, 1996, p. 64;
OECD, 1997a; Caraveli, 1998a,b).
5. Policy con6icts and dilemmas
Both intensi"cation and extensi"cation in Mediterranean agricultures have therefore been largely assisted by
changes in policy measures.
Intensive production practices have, to a great extent,
been largely assisted by CAP price subsidies and other
6 &Deserti"cation' has been de"ned as a reduction of the soil's ability
to be productive, resulting from either human activities (such as abandonment or over-stocking) or long-term climatic changes (Rati"cation
of the Rio Conference, 6 March 1997; see also Caraveli, 1998a,b).
types of aids, which concentrate support on the more
productive farms, rather than those which contribute
more to environmental or social goals. In consequence,
these same support measures induce extensi"cation
* i.e. abandonment or marginalisation * in upland
regions where LFAs are found. This constitutes a major
type of con#ict in agricultural policy.
Direct income payments introduced under the 1992
reform reinforced such tendencies. For example, under
the arable crop regime, cereal prices were reduced, while
farmers receive more in the form of direct payments per
hectare. Beef prices were also reduced after 1992 and
farmers receive more in the form of direct payments per
head of livestock. However, arable payments are based
on historic yields and livestock subsidies are calculated in
proportion to the number of livestock held on a farm;
therefore, subsidies are greatest in regions with the most
fertile and most intensively farmed arable land and on
farms with the largest number of livestock (IEEP, 1994,
p. 58).
Intensixcation and extensixcation tendencies have been
further strengthened by the EU's committment to a free
internal market in agricultural production, which forms
the cornerstone of the CAP. Removing barriers to trade
has stimulated intensi"cation in areas bene"ting from
a comparative advantage and a decline in production in
less competitive regions.
While the main part of the CAP works to the disadvantage of LFAs and low-intensity farming systems, speci"c measures direct CAP funds into handicapped and
environmentally sensitive areas and are aimed at combating abandonment and marginalisation on both social
240
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
and environmental grounds. Two kinds of measures have
been used for this purpose: support for LFAs and agrienvironmental programmes introduced under the 1992
reform. Such measures have often had con#icting e!ects
on the environment and landscape, i.e. on the preservation of low-intensity farming. For example, Directive
75/268 (now incorporated in Reg. 2328/91) * the main
structural measure to support agriculture in LFAs
* and the sheep premium * both of which include
additional quotas and higher premiums for sheep producers in LFAs * have in some cases helped to combat
abandonment; by adding however to the basic payments
per head of livestock they have also encouraged overstocking and local over-grazing in a number of regions of
Spain, Italy and Greece.7 Also, the more favourable market organization for sheep, after 1992, induced a stabilisation in the total number of sheep in Greece and Italy
* which were previously falling in many parts of the
LFAs of these countries. This may have reduced the rate
of marginalisation in the areas concerned, but also reinforced overstocking in some other areas (IEEP, 1994, p.
60; Caraveli, 1998a,b).
Another way of preventing land abandonment
through the agri-environmental measures has been by
providing support for the a!orestation of marginal land.
The conversion of crops * or grassland * to forests can
have positive e!ects in terms of water conservation and
soil formation. But when it leads to the disappearence of
semi-natural farmland it can be associated with a loss of
biodiversity. For example, in the Extremadura region of
Spain, almost half a million hectares of non-irrigated
land were taken out of agricultural production between
1974 and 1992. Much of the a!orestation resulted in
losses of open habitat that had supported rare animals
and birds. Similar concerns about a!orestation of seminatural farmland have also arisen in Portugal, with the
result that in certain areas that provide valuable habitat
for animals and birds a!orestation was prohibited
(OECD, 1997f, p 58).
A di!erent type of con#ict is created when structural or
regional programmes provide support for intensi"cation
while agri-environmental payments try to achieve the
opposite. In some areas of Portugal for instance, irrigation projects are being subsidised by the government at
the same time as agri-environmental schemes aim to
preserve extensive forms of agriculture. In certain areas,
however, increased water availability and irrigation can
prevent land abandonment and soil erosion (OECD,
1997f, p. 58)).
Despite the various problems, LFAs payments have
signi"cantly contributed to the survival of low-intensity
7 It is implied that in such cases, farmers manage (through certain
devices) to overcome the constraints to overstocking included in the
above Directive.
systems in many areas, as on many farms such payments
constitute more than half of a farm's total income and
therefore are crucial to the survival of a big number of
holdings (IEEP, 1994, p.60). Also, since EU's agri-environmental Regulation 2078/92 began to come into operation in 1993, a very large number of schemes has been put
forward from Mediterranean countries (where low-intensity farming is concentrated), as 75% of the costs of
support in these regions (Objective 1 regions) is reimbursed from FEOGA. Regulation 2078/92 has been considered as an important step forward, to provide for the
"rst time support for low intensity farming in some of the
most sensitive regions of Europe (IEEP, p. 61). Both the
LFAs and the agri-environmental regulations include the
setting up of a &zoning' system (by which the various
areas are divided into zones re#ecting di!erent geographical and economic conditions) (IEEP, pp. 60,61).
This helps to focus support in areas which need it most.
Mention should be made of rural development policies
which by encouraging the diversi"cation of activities in
disadvantaged and remote areas have, in many cases (e.g.
in regions of France and Italy) also helped to reverse
abandonment trends and serve a bene"cial role in
safeguarding the environment. In southern France, rural
areas have gained from industrial decentralisation from
the 1960s onwards, due to the low cost and the skills of
the workforce of farming origin. Thus there are a large
number of low-skilled industrial jobs in rural communes.
Also, the increased demand for rural goods and space
makes it easier for farmers to diversify towards farmingtourism, &free-range' products or the upkeep of the countryside. New comparative advantages are developing in
relation to residential, recreational and environmental
goods (Cavailhes et al., 1994). In Italy, the heterogeneity
of rural areas has increased further with the reversal in
the urbanisation trends of population and employment,
more pronounced in certain areas than others. In particular, in the last 20 yr, rural areas have been increasingly &diversifying' their labour markets towards nonagricultural activities. It should be mentioned that diversi"cation of rural activities has been an objective of the
EU structural policy since the 1992 reform. Diversi"cation includes the dispersion of manufacturing activities in
the country-side * a process that has been taking place
from the 1960s onwards. This diversi"cation of rural
activities has been associated with the process of social
and economic restructuring that is taking place worldwide and in particular with globalization trends and the
integration of local economies with the international
economy (Saraceno, 1994).
It is now widely accepted in the EU, that the maintenance of low-intensity systems is a priority for both social
and environmental purposes. It is also recognised that
many of the existing CAP policy mechanisms, including the LFAs Directive, should be revised in order to
provide more focused support for less intensive and
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
environmentally valuable systems (Saraceno p. 63). Proposals for reform in a number of CAP regimes take
account of this fact.
For example, an important element of the proposed in
1994 wine regime * still under discussion * is the
envisaged regulation to maintain vineyards on hills or
steep slopes and land which is sensitive to erosion and
soil conservation (Caraveli, 1998a). In the olive oil regime, recent proposals for change are focused on the shift
of aid to a per tree basis * which means that aid will be
&decoupled' from production * and that the present
CAP regime which favours intensive cultivation will be
weakened. In the tobacco regime the Commission proposes signi"cant improvements in the quality of the
product, which implies the encouragement of oriental
varieties, mainly produced in parts of LFAs of Greece
and Italy (Caraveli, 1998a).
Moreover, it is recognised that any reform of the LFAs
payments system will not be e!ective unless environmental conditions are imposed * for example, the substitution of the present system of headage payments by
payments per hectare (which constitutes an important
step forward) should be followed by appropriate environmental conditions. Such conditions are incorporated in
the proposals for reform of the Commission's &Agenda
2000' package, which envisages major changes for the
Structural Funds, while it advocates greater emphasis for
rural development and the rural environment. These
changes have been considered as a step towards a more
integrated &rural policy', which could create the conditions for a bigger shift in emphasis from price supports to
structural and rural development measures (Tracy, 1997;
Caraveli, 1998a).
Prospects for further reductions in price supports under a new CAP reform (within the framework of &Agenda
2000') and for new trade negotiations in 1999 * aiming
among other things at reducing intensive production
methods in order to alleviate the environmental burden
caused by agricultural activity * will inevitably lead to
reductions in income and will put more pressure on
marginal, ine$cient Mediterranean producers to abandon many LFAs. This will accentuate existing con#icts
and dilemmas in agricultural policy. On the other hand,
such pressures could be o!set by the emphasis given in
the Agenda, on the &overlap between LFAs and areas of
high nature value', as well as on the maintenance and
promotion of &low-input' systems. This should target
funds to the environmentally sensitive parts of LFAs and
might reverse abandonment trends.
6. Conclusions
The implementation of CAP measures in Mediterranean countries has reinforced the processes of intensixcation of productive practices in the more fertile areas of the
241
lowlands and extensixcation (i.e. abandonment or marginalisation and the collapse of traditional farming systems) in the uplands * LFAs, which have been going on
for decades. Both processes have serious negative impacts for the environment and the landscapes.
In many typical Mediterranean areas, the abandonment of traditional subsistence systems was the result of
uncompetitive farm structures, lack of alternative employment opportunities, aging of population. Such abandonment implied the widespread conversion of arable
land to tree crops (olives, almonds, oranges, "gs and
carobs). In both upland and many lowland areas, dryland arable cultivation, vines and tree crops survive in
a largely traditional form (often with small scattered
parcels) but many such systems are run down and neglected. Also, in some areas, the application of speci"c
regimes has either resulted in the intensixcation of productive methods on sloping land (e.g. the case of the olive
oil as well as the wine regimes) or has reinforced abandoment tendencies (e.g. the case of the wine regime).
The adoption of measures aiming at reducing intensive
methods in agricultural production has often accentuated abandonment trends in a number of areas. This
constitutes a major con#ict in agricultural policy relating
to LFAs and poses a major dilemma to policy makers. As
the EU will attempt to curb production further, in response to environmental, budgetary and international
pressures, regions with the least favourable natural, economic and social conditions will be even more threatened
by &uncontrolled' land abandonment. This will aggravate
the basic policy con#ict. Similarly, the adoption of
measures that are aimed at preserving &low-intensity'
systems and at reducing marginalisation have often created additional con#icts by causing over-exploitation of
marginal land (e.g. by over-stocking) and further environmental degradation.
It is now obvious to policy makers and clear from the
analysis in this paper that such con#icts can be resolved
to a great extent and abandonment trends can be reversed if: (a) LFA payments are more focused on those parts
of LFAs, where most low-intensive land of high conservation value is found; (b) environmental conditions are
attached to any such reform. This recognition is re#ected
in the current proposals for CAP reform, incorporated in
the Commission's Agenda 2000 package. The signi"cant
role that rural development policies play in disadvantaged areas within this context, through the diversi"cation of activities which they promote, is also recognized
in the Agenda. In particular, it is emphasized that under
the present CAP too many resources continue to be
concentrated in agricultural production alone and that
the creation of targeted rural development instruments
able to address the needs of the wider economy outside
agriculture should be faster (MAFF, 1999a,b). To this
purpose, it is further envisaged that targeted agri-environmental and forestry programmes should be established
242
H. Caraveli / Journal of Rural Studies 16 (2000) 231}242
as part of the proposed rural development instruments
(MAFF, 1999b, p. 25). The successful implementation of
existing or proposed measures depends, of course, on
authorities in Mediterranean countries.
The preceding analysis would be more accurate if more
quantitative information was available. This would require detailed data per product and region on: (a) trends
in land abandonment and the aging of farm population;
(b) changes in land use, irrigation/ha, input/ha (including
labour input), as well as on the patterns of cultivation
mix within a farm. Detailed data on overstocking per
region would also be required. Finally, an assessment of
the impact of all the above on the quality of the rural
environment would be necessary. The availability of such
information would permit:
f stronger support of the study's conclusions;
f additional policy recommendations.
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