CONSOLIDATION OF LAND PLOTS WILL LEAD TO POVERTY GROWTH IN RURAL
AREAS, CESTRAD EXPERTS STATES

YEREVAN, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. There is currently a tendency towards
consolidation of agricultural land plots in Armenia, the outcomes
of which are hard to foresee. Prof. Max Spur, an expert of the Hague
Institute of Social Research (CESTRAD), stated this on March 25. In
his analytical essay, “Land Reforms, Rural Poverty and Inequality:
Social Approaches of Land Policy”, he notes that the completion of the
land privatization process will promote development of the land market
and stimulate the process of land consolidation. At the same time he
points out that economically vital farms will emerge as a result of
this. However, according to M. Spur, later this will also lead to
poverty growth, bringing about a rapid consolidation of land plots
in the hands of small groups. It was indicated that the differences
have already grown – the farms with land plots of 15-500 ha sell their
produce completely, those with 1.5-5 ha – 50% of their harvest, while
extremely vulnerable close farms – up to 20%. If in 1998 agricultural
lands of 268 ha were sold in Armenia, in 2003 this figure made 3,312
ha. Yet, as the research shows, although the number of land sales has
increased, over the last 6 years only 2% of the private agricultural
land plots was sold. According to M. Spur, in 2003, the poor made up
31.8% and the extreme poor – 24.4% of the population of the Armenian
cities. This index made 40.7% and 6.8% in rural areas. According to the
RA President’s Chief Advisor Vahram Narsisian, the analytical essay
was prepared on the initiative of the UNDP and contains proposals
that can be used for developing a land policy strategy in the future.