Fatbardh Sallaku

1
The land consolidation situation in Albania
problems and prospects for the future

• Fatbardh Sallaku
• Odeta Tota
• Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania

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OVERVIEW

• Country Profile
• Land Reform
• Degree of Fragmentation
• Land Consolidation activity in Albania
• Strategy for the future
• Conclusions

3
Country Profile

• 28 000 km2
• 3.8 million inhabitants
• 50 Rural Population
• 24 Agricultural Land
• 28-30 Share of Agricultural in GDP
• The lowest amount of agricultural land per capita
  (0.22 hectares) in the region.
• There are 387 930 farms in total

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Land use structure
24.4
24.3
Agriculture land
Forests
Pasture and Meadows
14.4
Other land
36.9
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Land Reform in Albania

• There are two outstanding characteristics of the
  development of land relations since 1991
• The first is the creation of a nation of
  smallholders-owners of small farms held in
  freehold tenure brought about by Law 7501.
• The second characteristic and one that is
  directly related to the first is the exuberant
  urban development and rapid growth of land market
  that has taken place

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Privatization of Rural Land
The land privatization process began in 1991 with
the approval of Law 7501 (dated 19.07.1991), On
Land

• Main Criteria
• Equity Principle according to quality and
  productivity of the soil and the number of people
  in the family registered in the civil registry in
  August, 1991.
• Using a per capita basis, each family received
  equal amounts of arable and non-arable land,
  fruit trees, vineyards and olive trees.

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Results of this privatization process

• Over 90 of agricultural land is now in private
  ownership
• On ex-co-operative land, 353,718 families owned
  439,139 ha of land with over 90 granted via a
  tapi.
• On ex-state farm land, the figures are 91000
  families owning 123.334 hectares of land
• On average each family owns 4-6 parcels of land,
  sometimes separated quite widely.

A Nation of smallholding families has been created
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Influence of Land Reform
9
Influence of Land Reform
10
Influence of Land Reform
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Degree of Fragmentation

• up to 1.8 million parcels
• 4-6 parcels per Owner as an average
• Average family land surface 1.17 ha
• Average parcel size 0.55-0.2 ha
• Average farmers distance to the parcel from 1 to
  6 km

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Main reasons of land fragmentation

• Content of low itself
• Demographic development of villages and
  population concentration in particular areas
• Land privatization during several stages
• Different interpretations of Law On Land
• Natural fragmentation
• Inheritance issues

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Land Consolidation Activity in Albania

• In the year 2002, the World Bank and GoA has
  started the implementation of a Pilot
  Agricultural Land Consolidation Program in four
  pilot communes in order to
• facilitate and encourage land consolidation by
  facilitating market transactions in land with a
  focus on parcel exchanges, rentals and
  purchase/sales

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The project strategy

• Land consolidation has to be participatory,
  democratic and community driven
• It is founded on the principle of assisting the
  community to define new uses of its resources
• It is focused on rural livelihood rather than on
  primary production of food staples

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The main activities of this project

• Facilitation of transactions through the
  sponsoring of a participatory process of
  negotiated exchange and rental
• Subsidies to the transaction costs involved in
  formal land market transactions
• Public information and educational activity about
  parcel grouping, formation of associations and
  land market transactions
• Legal assistance when needed.

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The Project Results

• The adopted methodology is indeed practical,
  hands-on, simple and efficient and suits the
  farmers requirements
• Through the transactions made an agricultural
  land size of 94 ha has been consolidated

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The Project Results

• From all this land size, 49 ha has been
  transferred from one owner to the other through
  sales, exchanges and leasing adding to the
  initial land size of 45 Ha.
• Although initially farmers showed reluctance to
  the whole concept of land consolidation the fears
  to loose out or give up became gradually less.

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Results from Pilot Project
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The size of land parcels
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Main types of Land Transactions
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The number of transaction carried out during
2002-2003
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The main achievements
The findings from the pilot areas in Albania
shows that the project has been instrumental to
give way and stimulate the following processes

• The project provided guidance for farmers on how
  to use the new asset land in a more productive
  and efficient way
• It raised awareness and brought the issue of land
  fragmentation to the attention of decision-makers
  and other stakeholders and it provided concrete
  alternatives to current unsustainable agriculture
  structures

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The main achievements

• 3. It designed and implemented simple, local,
  hands-on, cost-effective and easy multipliable
  solutions to overcome land fragmentation
• 4. It provided guidance and an operating manual
  for the land consolidation which provides farmers
  and other stakeholders an insight into the
  concept of land consolidation and clear
  indications on how to proceed with the relevant
  transactions.
• 5. It stimulated local land market development,
  contributed to farm intensification

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The Strategy for the future

• Give preference and put more emphasize on land
  exchanges of plots and a cost sharing scheme
  involving all relevant stakeholders
• Review and update the current methodology
  integrating lessons learned from the pilot sites
  and best practices from other elsewhere

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The Strategy for the future

• 3. Preparation of an appropriate, easy-
  understandable land valuation scheme for both
  agriculture land and other land use systems
• 4. Moratorium to prohibit changes in land use in
  rural areas with immediate effect and the
  establishment of a clear and transparent land
  market/land value information system

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Conclusions
Although Albania is faced with political,
economic and social problems, important steps
have been achieved.

• A legal framework for land management has been
  created since 1991
• A review of the existing legislation is required,
  aiming to marginate parcel borders out of which
  the division of the parcels would be impeded by
  law, even in cases when a family member is
  separated by the family tree .
• The Pilot Consolidation Program was not enough to
  cover the broad spectre of the agricultural land
  consolidation issues, so, its recommended that
  other similar initiatives on land consolidation
  should continue.

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Conclusions

• The agricultural land consolidation in larger
  areas could be unrealistic for the moment and
  need a very strong financial support to improve
  rural infrastructure, irrigation, agro-processing
  and marketing.
• The Albanian government and donors must commit
  time and resources and coordinate efforts to
  overcome these impediments and allow for security
  of tenure and a fully functioning land market

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Thank YOU _______________________Fat
bardh Sallaku Odeta Tota Agricultural
University of Tirana