Land Concentration and Land Grabbing Processes—Evidence from Slovakia

Lucia Palšová,Zina Machničová,Anna Bandlerová

doi:10.3390/land10080873

Abstract

In Slovakia, the large-scale acquisition of agricultural land in combination with land concentration represents a legitimate threat that can lead to land grabbing. Based on the research, two interrelated areas of protection need to be effectively regulated to limit land grabbing: the protection of access to land and the protection of agricultural land. Due to the absence of relevant data analysis regarding this issue, the main aim of the study was to analyse the emergence of land concentration in Slovakia based on historical and cultural factors and to evaluate the current legislative and institutional framework of both aspects of land protection with a possible impact on the successively graduating threat of land grabbing. In particular, analytical methods were used, presenting the data from secondary literature sources, a questionnaire survey, and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Slovakia. The research shows that although the state has adopted the necessary legal framework for the protection of property rights to agricultural land, it is not possible to enforce it, as the institutional framework for its implementation is absent. It is also the state’s malfunctioning land protection regulatory mechanism and the absence of indirect action instruments that may be key indicators leading to the processes of industrial agriculture. Therefore, the adoption of legislation limiting agricultural land acquisition is important, but the processes of land grabbing presume the state’s complex provision of a regulatory mechanism and adoption of strategic measures aimed at sustainable land quality and food security.

Highlights

The sustainability of agricultural land quality represents a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the requirements for the minimum quality of an individual s life
In Slovakia, the large-scale acquisition of agricultural land in combination with land concentration represents a legitimate threat that can lead to land grabbing
Due to the absence of relevant data analysis regarding this issue, the main aim of the study was to analyse the emergence of land concentration in Slovakia based on historical and cultural factors and to evaluate the current legislative and institutional framework of both aspects of land protection with a possible impact on the successively graduating threat of land grabbing

Summary

Introduction

The sustainability of agricultural land quality represents a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the requirements for the minimum quality of an individual s life. The use of agricultural land as a natural resource has become a strategic interest of various and often colliding entities that, in specific countries, misuse inefficient processes of structural changes in agriculture [5,6] and unclear land ownership rights when obtaining it This leads to large-scale land acquisition and land concentration within the power of disposal of a small group of entities. (Research can be based on the premise identified in the analysis conducted by the European Economic and Social Committee [27] and the European Parliament [30], which states that land grabbing occurs in countries where there is complicated land ownership, a cheap acquisition price of agricultural land, or a malfunctioning system of state bodies).

Materials and Methods

Findings

Land Concentration in Ownership and Tenure Relationships