AN ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND EMIGRATION IN ROMANIA USING THE SELF ORGANIZING MAPS

Nicola Galluzzo

Abstract: In Romania, from the 1990s to the early 2000s, there has been a signifi cant phenomenon of rural emigration from the countryside with a worsening of socio-economic conditions in agricultural areas and rural territories. Most of Romanian farms are below a specific economic threshold proposed by the European Commission in 1985. Causes of these poor levels of farmer’s income are attributable to limited agricultural areas that are not efficient in improving investments and technical efficiency. By a quantitative methodology, the purpose of this research was to assess, from 2000 to 2013, in rural areas of Romania, the impact of agrarian and rural development policies, Gross Domestic Product and Agrarian Domestic Product on the emigration throughout Kohonen’s maps or Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs). Findings in Kohonen’s maps analysis have highlighted a direct relationship between the variables Agrarian Domestic Product and emigration, underlining the positive role of European Union funds disbursed by the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy and by the SAPARD in halting partially the emigration from the countryside.

Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy; emigration; Kohonens maps; rural areas; rural development

Date published: 2017-09-07