Importance of ownership and lease of agricultural land in Slovakia in the pre-accession period

Abstract

A vast majority of agricultural land is leased, only a few owners manage their own land. The market with agricultural land falls behind and, together with land lease, it depends on the prosperity of Slovak agriculture. In comparison with the EU countries, the prices of land and land lease in Slovakia are disproportionately low. At present, the Slovak legislation is focused on legal regulation of long-term, i.e. lasting more than ten years, leasing. However, this raises a question whether we should not rather concentrate on the support of the developing market with agricultural land instead.