În această lucrare se descrie starea actuală a fragmentării funciare al gospodăriilor ţărăneşti din Republica Moldova şi efectele pe care le are aceasta asupra bunăstării familiilor rurale şi a productivităţii exploataţiilor agricole.

This dissertation has two objectives. The first objective is to link conceptually individual decisions and land-use/cover change (LUCC) patterns in rural regions. The second objective is to use these concepts to explore the influence of policy on LUCC as a response of farmers' decisions.

In many developing countries, to sustain the provision of agricultural services to farmers, many have advocated the use of service fees. Successful implementation of such schemes requires understanding of determinants of farmers’ willingness to pay.

Farmers are in a continuous process of, individually and as community groups, adjusting to the observed variability in climate parameters.

The message in this short, yet stark sentence highlights a phenomenon that farmers, particularly in marginalized dryland areas, have been experiencing for years – the threat of desertification and climate change to their lives.