Land Reform And Farm Restructuring In Transition Countries

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 reforms, including privatization of land and farm restructuring, are an important cornerstone for overall transformation of the economies of the former socialist world. This paper summarizes the current status of land reform in Moldova and shows how there has been clear progress in creating a market-based agriculture and food sector in Moldova. The results of this study indicate that genuine restructuring and transition to full-fledged private farming have resulted in improved profitability and higher incomes for private farmers than those achieved by traditional collectives.

Agriculture remains the main source of employment and livelihood for the large rural population of many transition countries, especially among the former Soviet republics. Accordingly, the World Bank continuously monitors the progress of land reform and farm restructuring in the region because of the potential impact of these processes on rural development and poverty alleviation in rural areas. The present study on Belarus is the latest addition to a long and growing series of World Bank publications on land reform and farm restructuring in the former socialist countries of Europe and Central Asia. The unique features of all these publications is their reliance on first-hand empirical information collected through extensive farm surveys of various rural constituencies. Analysis of survey findings enables the World Bank to base its policy dialogue with governments in the region on solid empirical facts, making the Bank's recommendations more credible and relevant. The survey findings in this volume will provide a platform for useful policy discussions with this country's government and supply international donors that are active there with essential information to design their strategic programs.

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.

First published in 1997 in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union and its agricultural policies, these editors presented a series of ten related articles on the transition to post-communist, more privatised agricultural policies, each specialising in a specific region of Central and Eastern Europe. Resulting from a research network, this volume features a range of contributors, including those preparing PhDs, former governmental advisors and specialists in agricultural economics, food policy and statistics. The chapters cover Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Eastern Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Solvenia, and the Former Soviet Union, along with a comparative analysis. The contributors focus on three key issues of reform: the collection of detailed data, the collection of information on factors influencing the progress and completion of reform and explaining the results of privatisation and land reform, with a particular emphasis on the first two elements. This volume is well-suited to policy makers, analysists and researchers.

Rationale for the study and summary of findings; Ukraine: the country and its agriculture; Land reform legislation; The new private sector; Reorganization of farm enterprises; The effect of reorganization on farm employees; Market services and infrastructure; Rural social services and restructuring of the collective sector.

This collection aims to present a comprehensive study on farm restructuring and its determinants in Central and Eastern Europe. The data collected should provide scholars and policy makers with the necessary information to understand the changes in Central and eastern European agriculture, and presents a comparative analysis of country studies across the regions.