Farming strategies and land use in Southern Portugal: land abandonment or extensification of the traditional systems?

Abstract

Agricultural activity can not be analysed outside the context of regional and local dynamics and, at this level, there are very different situations to be found in the Algarve and in the Alentejo. However, there is a common problem in the areas studied: the continued exodus of the inhabitants to more attractive regions (within the country or abroad) and the consequent trend towards depopulation in these areas.