Agricultural land markets and land leasing in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the driving force that shaped agricultural land structures, land market and land leasing in the Republic of Macedonia. Institutional developments and land reforms have so far been modest, and have not contributed to significant changes in agricultural ownership, operational structures, or land market and land leasing arrangements. Land ownership and land use are bimodal, consisting of several small-scale family farms and a few large-scale agricultural enterprises. The small family farms own and operate land on several small parcels, which is one of the major obstacles to the modernisation of family farm production. They produce food for household subsistence with mixed crop, fruit, vegetable, grapevine and livestock production. A considerable portion of the land is uncultivated, which affects land market and land leasing values. Due to underdeveloped institutional frameworks and market institutions in support of small-scale farms, a large proportion of state-owned land is rented by agricultural enterprises.