Agricultural Land Use Efficiency Concept and Program of Measures is a nationwide multisectoral policy document defining the general approaches of the Government to address the key priorities of the Sustainable Development Strategy and to increase the efficiency of agricultural land use. The Concept refers to the involvement in the circulation of unused lands, the development of the land market. The purpose of the Concept is to clarify the main directions of the state policy aimed at increasing the efficiency of land use for agricultural purposes, the implementation of which will increase the level of use of agricultural land, the efficiency of agricultural production, the level of food security, and the increase of gross agricultural output. The issues requiring solutions for increasing the efficiency of land use for agricultural purposes are as follows: (a) inefficient use of agricultural land; (b) clarification of the competencies of the bodies, structures, authorities authorized to carry out the process of increasing the efficiency of the use of agricultural land; (c) lack of economic and legal structures; (d) lack of registration and classification system for unused lands; (e) lack of digitized geographical maps of agricultural land, cadastral database implementation system; (f) clarification of approaches to full use of public-private partnership opportunities; (g) clarification of the mechanisms for ensuring the monitoring system of the implemented measures; (h) low level of awareness of land owners; (i) low level of participation of land owners in the process of increasing land use efficiency; and (j) low level of existing mechanisms for the promotion of long-term agricultural target programs. Proposed solutions: (a) direct the policy (especially policy support measures) to the solution of the problem of abandoned land; (b) creation of mechanisms for the development of the land market, based on the best international experience; (c) setting criteria for classification of unused land and definition of land the registration procedure; (d) establishment of a land bank - legal regulation of activities; (e) promotion of sale of unused or underused public land to promote the lease of land to the highest bidder; (f) introduction of mechanisms to promote the participation of land owners in the process of increasing land use efficiency; (g) implementation of long-term land consolidation programs based on international best practices; (h) development and operation of a digital register of agricultural holdings; and (i) creation of databases based on digitized agrochemical research of digital maps of agricultural land. Expected results: (a) increasing the level of targeted use of agricultural land; (b) increasing gross agricultural output; (c) increasing of incomes of farmers in agriculture, reduction of rural poverty, decrease of emigration rates; (d) increasing the level of food security of the country; (e) growth of local production of essential foodstuffs; and (f) improving the macroeconomic situation of the foreign trade balance.
Armenia · 2020-01-23