Socio-Economic Resource and Structures for the Sustainable Development of Rural Economy

Within the current Community political framework concerning rural development, the Member States are legally encouraged to focus the resources devoted to the field of diversification of income sources on key actions contributing to the overarching priority of the creation of employment opportunities and conditions for growth. Although rural areas in Romania offer real opportunities in terms of their human potential, the provision of rural amenities and tourism, their attractiveness for employment and living, and their role as a reservoir of natural resources and highly valued landscape, the poor situation of the rural incomes is a strong argument for the need to develop a diversified rural economy. The present article is enrolled in the context, presenting a synthesis concerning the definition of sustainable development, with implications in rural area development and main results of the baseline indicators analysis providing evidences of existing non-farm sector potential, as a sustainable source for the livelihood of the communities in rural areas and the leading factor for development of the rural economy, used for the design of the present rural development plan.