Role of rural identity in traditional agricultural landscape maintenance: the story of a post-communist country

ABSTRACT

The traditional agricultural landscape (TAL) in Slovakia comprises mosaics of small-scale arable fields and permanent agricultural cultivations with balks (mounds, heaps, or terraces). Traditional farming management has been significantly influenced by agricultural collectivization, by the change from centrally planned to market economy after 1989, and the 2004 Slovakia accession to the EU. Detailed results of a questionnaire survey inspired the main objective of this paper; analysis and comparison of local residents’ attitudes to the TAL, its management and the various socioecological factors in three different TAL study areas. Identified differences and commonalities between the opinions of different groups of respondents on TAL management contribute to fine-tuning recent agricultural and rural policies and local management plans. Rural identity expressed in the knowledge and perception of local land users is crucial in TAL maintenance and sustainable rural development.

KEYWORDS:

• Traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia
• perception
• biodiversity
• management