AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN POLLUTED AREAS

Farming in polluted regions creates several problems, especially in th e densely populated countries. The soils contaminated with persistent pollutants are of special concern, as there are no technical means kno wn to restore the original fertility of the deteriorated areas on a la rge scale. Thus, very careful land management is required to grow safe crops. This is particularly true for Katowice District, the most indu strialized and polluted part of Poland. Agricultural activity is pract iced in about 50% of the area; 7% of this area is considered an unsafe zone due to the extent of soil and air pollution, mainly from heavy m etals. An agricultural land assessment method is described, which enab les us to classify the pollution of an area. The classification is bas ed on a set of simple indices, which are easy to employ and which iden tify those species of plants that could be grown without exposing cons umers to high levels of contaminants. The method has been used for sev eral years by local administration and environmental protection servic es.