LAND-GRABBING PHENOMENA IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT.

The paper presents the characteristics of the agricultural sector in Romania, through the lens of the land grabbing phenomena. It is one of the latest additions to an already full agenda of challenges that rural development must address. Land grabbing deprives the population of the ability to make decisions about the national land (what is cultivated, what agricultural practices are used, what is the purpose of the land), nullifying food sovereignty. Also, the possibility of young people to choose agriculture as a field of activity is restricted by the privatization of land, although they receive subsidies for establishing themselves as young farmers. The analysis carried out in the period 2015-2021 indicated that approximately 40% of Romanian agricultural land is owned by foreign owners, while 46% of the population lives in the countryside and 1.6 million people are employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing. The results showed that the largest areas are owned by Italy, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The main fields of activity are the following: agriculture, forestry, conservation and renewable energy. At the same time, subsidies can represent significant income for large areas of land. For the studied period, an increase in the prices of arable land in Romania was found, although they are lower than in other European countries. The biggest increases in arable land prices were recorded in the West, South-East and South-West Oltenia Regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]