Soil erosion is a serious problem for about a third of all the farmland in Moldova. And in a country where most of the rural poor work the land, the quality of the soil they farm is crucial.
Moldova's land is three-quarters agricultural, and as the fertility of the soil has fallen, so have crop yields. In some villages, yields have fallen by more by than half. And that can mean the difference between eating and going hungry.
Thin topsoil and unstable ground are two problems here.