Land reform and land fragmentation and consequences for rural development in the CEE/CIS countries
Graefen, Christian
After a decade of farm privatisation and restructuring, the organisation and structure of farming in most of Central and East European (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has changed dramatically. Today a large portion of farming is carried out on private land in individual farms, with distinct differences between the two regions CEE and CIS. Regardless of the dynamics of change, efficiency and productivity in terms of land, capital and labour still remains by far unsatisfactory, even declined in a number of countries in the middle of the 90ties. Land fragmentation has increased with few exceptions throughout the whole region, putting an additional burden on farm management. Implications for the rural areas tend to be dramatic in terms of ageing of population, out-migration to urban centres, increasing rural unemployment and strong economic differentiation among regions/subregions.
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