Rede. Landbouwhogeschool te Wageningen. 12 November 1959

Modern agriculture development possibilities are highly dependent on many factors, including those which are related to the parameters of land spatial structure (including parcels fragmentation and parameters related to their shape). In particular, unfavourable shape of parcels in combination with their small sizes is the most common reason for non-profitability of agricultural production. It is one of the major causes of land abandonment. South Poland is the area of high diversification in terms of the landform, soil quality and spatial structure parameters.

General Directorate of Agricultural Reform still use Storie Index method for land consolidation. In spied of knowing that there are insufficient parts of this method, not much studies on alternative methods have been carried out yet. The aim of this study is to compare Land Quality Index and Storie Indeks to determine soil index which is one of the most important phases in land consolidation projects. This study was carried out about 273 ha area in Örencik village and its near vicinity located at Bafra district of Samsun province.

The paper presents the problematic of the merge and exchange processes of land under the following programmes of agricultural land consolidation. By consolidating of land, there was activity for better creation of rural space in order to achieve comprehensive improvement of conditions for farming. According to the Act (1982) there were taken activities to shape the structure of the area, the rational design of land distribution, adjust the boundaries of the property to the system of water management facilities, construction of roads and terrain.

The paper addresses the issue of dissatisfaction related to spatial management in rural areas illustrated with an example of southern Poland. In this region, the spatial structure of rural areas is poor, which results, e.g., from substantial fragmentation and scattering of land. Additionally, the Land and Property Register, also known as the real property cadastre for the area is not up to date, and fails to meet social expectations, in particular those regarding the ownership title.

Land consolidation is an implement, which allows the rearrangement of spatial structure in rural areas leading to their socioeconomic development. However, the process is costly and time consuming. The needs for land consolidation always exceed the actual possibility of its implementation, therefore it is essential to develop tools, which identify areas of high priority for such investments. Most often they are based on multi-criteria spatial analyses, which include a number of parameters defining agricultural production area.