This work presents an assessment of the current composition of agricultural land in the context of regions and in general for the ATU Gagauzia and it demonstrates the socio-economic role of land in the development of the region. The qualitative characteristics of agricultural land in the autonomy for each settlement, as well as the results of the transfer of land to private ownership and the existing structure of business entities on the basis of land ownership are given. The structure of the sown area of autonomy is presented in the form of a table. The article emphasizes that the achieved land productivity in the autonomy lags significantly behind the potential opportunities of the fertile chernozems of the region, for which the table shows the scientifically-based (potential) and prevailing levels of productivity of the main agricultural crops in the ATU Gagauzia for 2009-2018. Farmers of autonomy achieved fruit yields less than 1/3 of the scientifically based level, yields of corn and winter wheat are slightly higher than 2/5 and 1/2 respectively, sunflower is 2/3 and grapes is almost 3/4. There are listed the causes of such a sharp drop in land use intensity. In conclusion, it is noted that the efficiency of land use in agriculture in modern conditions is determined by a more complete use of the potential of land fertility and the provision on this basis of a substantial increase in crop yields.