Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination

Figure 34. Average size of agriculture establishments
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Less than 2 ha 2 - 5 ha 5 - 10 ha Average/farm
Bulgaria
Romania
Serbia
Croatia
Albania
Source: MAFCP
Bulgaria has a total of 6.2 million ha of agricultural land, 77 per cent of which is arable and 23.5 per cent is
pasture. Of this land, 60 per cent is private and only 40 per cent state owned. 29 per cent of pasture land is
private, out of which 33 per cent are cooperatives and 71 per cent are state-owned. The average farm holding
has two ha of land in four or five plots.
In Romania, total agricultural land is 14,791,000 ha, 63 per cent of the whole territory. Following land reform
here, 9,400,000 ha were privatised and about 1,300,000 ha are in highland areas and 4,091,000 ha is still stateowned.
The average farm holding has 2.28 ha of land distributed in three or four plots. Holdings with less than
one ha represent 45 per cent of the total number, those of one to two ha represent 24 per cent, while holdings
with more than two ha constitute 31 per cent of the total agricultural land.
About 80 per cent of agricultural land in Serbia has been privatised and there are 778,891 farms. 25 per cent of
land is occupied by farms ten ha in size distributed among two to three plots. The average farm has 3.68 ha.
Within the framework of land reform in Albania, agricultural land division is completed based upon quantity.
Currently, 80 per cent of land is private and 20 per cent is state owned. Land that has been distributed comes
to 561,000 hectares, 98.6 per cent of the land fund of 569,000 ha planned for distribution. The process of
granting ownership titles, in terms of service, extended across 542,000 hectares, 97.2 per cent of distributed
land. Available state-owned land of 17,355 ha was identified and transferred to the Property Registration and
Compensation Agency for deposit in the compensation fund for expropriated subjects. Land protection is an
important part of the reform.
A “Farm File” has been introduced for the first time, containing main data on 300,000 farms country-wide. The
information was entered into a database and can be used for various purposes, such as VAT reimbursement of
six per cent for formalised farmers.
Policies are aimed at further farm consolidation by establishing and strengthening farmer associations,
introduction of agricultural technology, improving marketing and upgrading vocational education of farming
operators, providing opportunities for market entry and building on the development promotion policy as the
most efficient form of mitigating poverty in rural areas. Key efforts will focus on providing credit to farmers to
encourage them to expand their farms and become capable of sustaining the credit. The goal is to increase the
average holding size to 1.8 ha by 2013.
Indicator: Number of kilometres of rural roads constructed
Albania has a road inventory of 12,000 km, 4,980 km of which are rural roads in the communes and 4,471
km are regional roads. The considerable contribution of the road network to agricultural development and
the significant share of agriculture in GDP, economic development and reduction of poverty mean that the
secondary and local road network should be improved as soon as possible.
NSDI 2008 Progress Report | 61