SOIL SURVEY IN ALBANIA - European Soil Portal

EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU ⎯ RESEARCH REPORT NO. 9
This is the greatest ‘revolution’ in the modern
times of Albania with respect to private land
ownership. The process has gone on (and is still
going on) with controversies on the way in which
this privatisation was implemented.
From the soils’ prospective, the change in land
ownership has brought to difficult times in keeping
the link between the thousands of newly created
farmers and the corresponding governmental
institutions. Even though many farmers recognise
for instance, the importance of soil fertility and
land conservation, few of them would consider
paying for a soil survey investigation on their land.
Consequently, the opinion of the governmental
structures remains that public funds or
international donors should sponsor soil survey
programmes. This becomes a priority especially
with the pace of increase in land degradation and
environmental damage of Albania’s natural
resources.
In many areas, Albania is blessed with fertile soils,
but the total amount of arable land is finite and
may not be able to support the increase in
population expected in the coming years. At
present, the country relies heavily on agricultural
imports, which could make it vulnerable to local or
regional crises, putting food security at risk. To
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44
reduce the misuse of land and enhance sustainable
land use and management in Albania, a soil
protection policy should be developed and
implemented, addressing the following:
1. Detailed land resource assessments;
2. Monitoring of land and water quality;
3. Awareness among land users regarding
environmental protection;
4. Support (extension) services to assist land
owners and users;
5. Implementation of sustainable land use and
management practices;
6. Drafting a national natural resource
management and land use policy.
Acknowledgement
Soil Survey in Albania. Pandi Zdruli
The assistance of Prof. Dr. Sherif Lushaj and the
staff of the Soil Science Institute in Tirana,
Albania, is greatly appreciated in the preparation of
this report.
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