INTERACTION BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE CULTIVATION OF ARABLE LAND - REGIONAL APPROACH

S. Mirjanic, Z. Vasko, L. J. Drinic, A. Ostojic

Abstract: It is historical trend that the labor force from rural areas migrate to urban areas. Employment in agriculture is decreasing because of the intensification of agricultural production, and because of the lack of economic interest to deal with this production. In less developed countries, this trend is so obvious that a significant portion of agricultural land remains uncultivated. In situations of high unemployment and its increase, there is the argument that agriculture is an opportunity for a temporary selfemployment labour force that lost jobs in the industry and other non-agricultural activities. Therefore, the working hypothesis tested whether the increase in unemployment reduces overall uncultivated agricultural land, as one of the logical consequences of engagement one part of unemployed labour force in agriculture. This phenomenon has been studied on the example of six regions in the Republic of Srpska, one of the two entities of BaH, in the period of 2002-10. The research confirmed that only in Bijeljina region, there was a high correlation between unemployment and uncultivated land. According to the evaluated regression model in regions of Trebinje, Banja Luka and Prijedor, increase in unemployment in the current year have resulted in the reduction of uncultivated land in the next year, but the evaluated models were not statistically significant. The general conclusion was that there was not significant interdependence between increasing unemployment and decreasing uncultivated land.

Keywords: agriculture; arable land; cultivation; unemployment

Date published: 2019-01-28