cultivar_22_Final_EN

Dynamics of agricultural land use in Portugal 75 According to the Portuguese Directorate-General for the Territory (DGT) 2 , land in mainland Portugal has to a large extent been used and managed by agents linked to forestry and agricultural activities. These two activities have together occupied around 80% of the territory in recent decades (Source: DGT, 2013). Land is a finite resource and therefore its sustainable management is crucial. Since most of the Portuguese territory is occupied by agriculture and forestry, these activities are important for good land management. 2 DGT − Carta de Ocupação do Solo (COS − Land Cover Map): https://www.dgterritorio.gov.pt/Carta-de-Uso-e-Ocupacao-do-Solo-para-2018 Agricultural activity, together with the portion of land used simultaneously by agriculture and forestry (8%), is responsible for the occupation of about 41% of the territory. (Figure 2). 3.2. Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) The 2019AC shows that farmers are responsible for the management of around 5.0 million hectares of land (400 thousand hectares more than in 2009), i.e. the 266 thousand existing farm holdings, with the 3.1 4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 81.2 79.9 79.7 79.8 79.7 15.7 15.3 15.3 15.1 15.1 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1980 1995 2010 2015 2018 Artificial Agriculture Natural Figure 1 – Changes in land cover in mainland Portugal (1980-2018) Source : DGT – Land Cover Map 5% 33% 8% 39% 13% 2% Artificial Agriculture Agroforestry Forestry Uncultivated Wetlands and water Figure 2 − Land cover structure inmainland Portugal (2018) Source : DGT – COS2018 Utilised Agricultural Area 3,838,708 77% Woodland without intercropping 960,040 19% Unutilised agricultural land 90,171 2% Other land 98,739 2% Figure 3 − Area managed by farm holdings per type of land use (2019) Source : INE, 2019AC