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Farmers’ attitudes and landscape change: evidence from the abandonment of terraced cultivations on Lesvos, Greece

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Abstract

Agricultural landscapes are the product of the interaction of the natural environment of an area and the practices of its farmers. In this paper, farmers’ practices are examined in order to describe and understand processes of landscape change in terraced fields on the island of Lesvos, Greece. We examine the changes of the terraced fields of each farmer and the reasons for these changes, practices concerning the maintenance of terraces and how farmers view this landscape change. The concept of farming systems is used to link farmers’ practices at the farm level with changes at the landscape level. Data come from research via questionnaires to farmers in order to record their practices, to explore changes in land use and the landscape elements and the reasons behind these changes, and finally to record their opinions on the landscape change that result. Findings indicate that although farm households in the case study areas depend on farming incomes by very different degrees, they employ similar cultivation and landscape management practices. At the same time, “hobby” farm households may be more prone to abandonment of fields and negligence of landscape elements (here terraces).

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Notes

  1. The agricultural census of 2001 does not provide average age of farmers but only the frequencies of age groups for each settlement. In some settlements, as much as 56% of the total number of farmers are older than 65 (Asomatos) and only in the settlements of the Western zone is the percentage of aged farmers lower than 20% (Table 1).

  2. The percentage of abandoned terraced plantations is estimated at roughly 50% of the total terraced plantations with the use of air photo interpretation, according to Dalaka and Petanidou (2006); the difference with the reported abandonment could lie in the fact that many abandoned fields are owned by absentees.

  3. The particular measure supports farmers to buy new equipment, build or rebuild farm infrastructure, etc. It is a valuable tool for animal husbandry and for arable farming, but for the olives of the island (old trees, mountainous, with terraces, with no irrigation water) it provides little actual help.

  4. The particular measure funds the reconstruction of terraces, according to some technical guidelines, but the amounts it provides cover partly the actual reconstruction work and there are two limitations: (1) the sum is given over a five-year period and theoretically the reconstruction must be divided in each of these years (as in all agri-environmental measures), which is practically very difficult; (2) beneficiaries of another agri-environmental measure receive a small fraction of the sum, as there is an upper limit to the amount a farmer can receive annually from such measures, which practically excludes all organic farmers. For more details and a thorough analysis, see Kizos et al. (forthcoming).

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Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by the EPEAEK II—PYTHAGORAS Programme (Measure 2.6, action 2.6.1, category 2.6.1.) of the Greek Ministry of Education, entitled: “The terraced landscape of Lesvos: Mapping land use change and studying the biological diversity dynamics throughout all successional stages.” We thank Anastasia Vatsou and Varvara Vounatsou for their contributions during the fieldwork.

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  1. Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, University Hill, 81100, Mytilini, Greece

    Thanasis Kizos, Anastasia Dalaka & Theodora Petanidou

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  1. Thanasis Kizos
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  2. Anastasia Dalaka
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  3. Theodora Petanidou
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Correspondence to Thanasis Kizos.

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Kizos, T., Dalaka, A. & Petanidou, T. Farmers’ attitudes and landscape change: evidence from the abandonment of terraced cultivations on Lesvos, Greece. Agric Hum Values 27, 199–212 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-009-9206-9

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