Abstract:
Moldova has experienced striking changes in land tenure and land ownership since its independence. The land reform, which was practically completed in 2000, created over 1 million landowners among the rural population. The creation of independent family farms was one of the primary goals of the land reform. More than 280,000 peasant farms have been created, averaging 1.86 hectares in size. The small size of the peasant farms, whose holdings are furthermore split into 3-4 parcels, raises considerable concerns about their long-term viability and has led to an intense public debate regarding the impacts of fragmentation. In this context, land consolidation has been proclaimed as one of the major directions of the agricultural policy. Among the multiple methods of consolidation, an important place belongs to the development of land market. In this paper, the author considers the impacts of land reform on privatization and ownership structure of agricultural land and analyzes the development of land market transactions. The analysis is based on official statistical sources, data and results of several questionnaire-based surveys. The main idea of the paper – land market register a steady development, plays an important role in reducing land fragmentation and there is no necessity in other mechanisms for land consolidation.
