Land Policies and Evolving Farm Structures in Transition Countries

Land Policies and Evolving Farm Structures in Transition Countries PDF

Author: Zvi Lerman

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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The authors review the role of land policies in the evolving farm structure of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They show how different policies for land property rights, degrees of control of land rental and sale markets, and procedures for restructuring former collective or state farms resulted in significantly different farm structures in CEE countries compared with those in the CIS. In particular, secure land rights, greater emphasis on indivualization of land, and more liberal land market policies in CEE generated a farming sector with a relatively large share of family farms and viable corporate farms. On the other hand, limited tenure security, ineffective individualization of land rights, and restrictive land policies in most of the CIS produced a farming structure dominated by large and generally nonviable jointly-owned farms that function much like the old collective farms. Family farms are slow to emerge in transition countries with inadequate land policies. The agricultural sector in countries dominated by inefficient farm organizations is characterized by low productivity and misallocation of resources.

Agriculture in Transition

Agriculture in Transition PDF

Author: Zvi Lerman

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9780739108079

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In Agriculture in Transition: Land Policies and Evolving Farm Structures in Post Soviet Countries authors Zvi Lerman, Csaba Csaki, and Gershon Feder study the land policies and farming structures of these newly emerging nations as components of institutional change in the rural sector - change from a centralized rural economy to a market-oriented economy.

Private Agriculture in Armenia

Private Agriculture in Armenia PDF

Author: Zvi Lerman

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780739102053

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This book details and analyzes an extensive farm survey of Armenian land reform. Zvi Lerman and Astghik Mirzakhanian, two principal contributors to the design of the study, present their invaluable insight into the rapid land reform strategy implemented in Armenia. Unique among the former Soviet Republics, the entire agricultural sector of this country shifted from collective, large-scale, farm enterprises to individual production in 1992. The authors pay special attention to the commercialization of private farms and their access to supply and marketing channels outside the old state-controlled system. Family incomes from farming and off-farm sources are discussed, as well as problems of rural social services and social infrastructure. The authors demonstrate how official statistical measures and record keeping practices in Armenia do not adequately account for this dramatic transition.

Land Reform and Farm Restructuring in Transition Countries

Land Reform and Farm Restructuring in Transition Countries PDF

Author:

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 0821370898

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In the past fifteen years, most countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have shifted from predominantly collective to more individualized agriculture. These years also have witnessed the largest fall in agricultural production, yields, and rural employment on record, while the deterioration and dissolution of collective and state farms have been accompanied by a significant drop in rural public services. Land Reform and Farm Restructuring provides a structured and comparative review of important aspects of land reform and documents important differences in policies between countries to examine why the reforms have not yet lived up to their potential. It is based on data from farm and household surveys and interviews conducted in 2003 and 2004. Case studies from Bulgaria, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan - countries that have had particular difficulties in land reform, farm restructuring, farm performance, or rural poverty - each highlight a central conundrum about land reform and farm restructuring. The paper concludes with some implications for policy.

Agricultural Landownership in Transitional Economies

Agricultural Landownership in Transitional Economies PDF

Author: Gene Wunderlich

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780761800668

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In this collection of essays, edited by Gene Wunderlich, individual authors from various institutions discuss the economics and political issues surrounding land reform and the privatization of agricultural landownership in formerly socialized economies. The authors provide a solid framework for understanding how changes in landownership affect farm organization and production, wealth distribution, the environment, and public services. The subject matter is particularly relevant, although not limited to, the formerly socialized economies of Central and Eastern Europe. This book will be particularly useful in economic development courses and classes studying comparative economic systems. This book also provides excellent background for consultants and policymakers. Contents: Foreword; Preface; Creating Private Ownership and Markets in the Agricultural Land of Formerly Socialist Countries (Wunderlich); Landed Property in Capitalist and Socialist Countries (Thiesenhusen); Changing Land Relations and Farming Structures in Formerly Socialist Countries (Lerman); Supporting Markets in the Agricultural Land of Transitional Economies (Munro-Faure); Farmland Conveyancing in Selected FAO Member Sates in Transition (Riddell); Agricultural Land Tax and the Transition to Market Economy (Muller); Authors.

Structural Change in the Farming Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe

Structural Change in the Farming Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe PDF

Author: Csaba Csáki

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780821347331

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Farm structures in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) today cover a whole spectrum of forms, which include small subsistence-oriented household plots, medium-sized commercial family farms, and large corporations. The agricultural sector in CEE definitely has not embraced the family farm as the dominant farming structure, thus confounding the original expectations of Western experts. On the other hand, agriculture did not collapse because of fragmentation and privatization, as predicted by conservative doomsayers. To address the concerns of the farming sector in CEE with relation to EU accession, a workshop was held in Warsaw, Poland in June 1999. This volume represents a selection of papers presented at this workshop. It examines the reforms and policy changes necessary in the food and agriculture sectors of the ten countries that have started the accession process for eventual membership in the European Union (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The papers are organized around the following three topics: • Evolving farm structures and competitiveness in agriculture; • Land laws and legal institutions for development of land markets and farm restructuring; and • Development of farm services for improved competitiveness. This volume will be of interest to agricultural policy makers and government officials in the candidate countries, EU officials, World Bank and FAO staff, development scholars, and all others interested in the process of agricultural reform in CEE.

Building Market Institutions in Post-communist Agriculture

Building Market Institutions in Post-communist Agriculture PDF

Author: David A. J. Macey

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9780739107355

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Editors David Macey, William Pyle, and Stephen Wegren, with a host of world-leading agrarian analyst and practitioners, unravel the shortcomings surrounding post-communist agrarian reform and answers how and why particular policies were adopted in Eurasia. Building Market Institutions in Post-Communist Agriculture draws on country-level case studies to analyze a range of initiatives that institutions have applied to agricultural economies. In this edited collection, contributors use a comparative analytical framework to project a universal process of agrarian transformation that continues to change the social, economic, and political characteristics of this part of the world.

Towards Improved Farm Structures and Rural Land Market Functioning

Towards Improved Farm Structures and Rural Land Market Functioning PDF

Author: Frank Van Holst

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Most transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe face enormous challenges in developing a viable land structure. Due to restitution processes and socially engaged policies of privatization, wide spread land fragmentation is present. The situation in Armenia is comparable with many other countries in the region. Privatization was mainly done in the 1990s but continues until now as state and public land still represent a relatively large share of agricultural land. Figures of Armenia over the last 20 years illustrate minimal change in average farm and plot size. This outline is based on review and analysis of available data and a visit to Armenia in June 2017. It aims to contribute to selecting the policy options and setting the preconditions in Armenia needed to get a well-functioning rural land market to enlarge farms and to reduce fragmentation. As shown in this report, experience in the region is still limited which made it necessary and relevant to refer to experience in Western European countries. Options are not limited to land consolidation but include improved management of state land, land banking, agricultural lease regulation and some other supporting measures. The analysis conducted for this report draws on data collected from the Agricultural Census data of 2014 and data from the Real property cadastre. Qualitative data are based on several reports, presentations and interviews with experts and policy makers listed in the annex. Although further analysis is needed, it is clear that the current situation provides a serious risk for the agricultural sector which jeopardises the impact of any support to the sector. While Western European countries could organically adapt and support the sector to changing market conditions since the 1950s, the situation in Armenia (and other countries in the region) requires a set of measures which is unprecedented in its scale and intensity to speed up this process.