Agricultural experts’ perception and knowledge towards farming conditions and
natural agro-environmental problems are important to develop a sustainable rural
strategy and may serve when planning land use in sloping agricultural areas to
avoid land abandonment. The objective of investigations was to analyze the attitudes
of agricultural experts in the Eastern Lithuania region towards the state
of the generic agrarian sector, soil erosion processes and natural handicaps. Replies
of respondents indicated that the means (the Likert Scale) of the evaluation
towards the items “Soil quality”, “Agricultural sector development” and “Land
suitability for generic agricultural activity” were 2.68, 3.11 and 2.73, respectively.
The evaluations indicating that the mean score perceived by respondents towards
impact of soil erosion on common farming activity in the region was 2.63. A questionnaire
study showed that respondents recognized that the impact of terrain and
soil texture factors on the potential of soil erosion processes is the highest in the
region, thus the factor of soil type has been evaluated as the least important. The
most frequently noticed topographical parameter of the terrain influencing the
intensity of soil erosion was slope steepness (63.1% of respondents), followed by
slope aspect (21.1%) and length (15.8%). Hilly terrain and soil acidity constraints
by frequency 24.5 and 18.9%, respectively, have showed the most important attitude
of respondents, in the content of the natural handicaps limiting successful
farming activity in the region. However, the study disclosed that unfavourable
climate conditions and soil cover diversity were the two least crucial natural constraints
for farming. These empirical findings intended to bring benefits and can
help in decision-making framework in order to decide the best soil conservation
measures and improving farming conditions in agricultural areas under natural
handicaps.