FAO project targets resolving public-private co-ownership of agricultural land and improved agricultural land management

A new project by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will tackle issues arising when agricultural land is co-owned by the state and private persons and will also improve local capacity in agricultural land management. The project, “Support for resolving private-public co-ownership to improve agricultural land management and land tenure in the Pelagonija Region,” was launched on 19 September. The event in Bitola organized by FAO and the Macedonian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Economy (MAFWE), was attended by more than 60 representatives from the Ministry, the Municipality of Bitola, the National Extension Agency, the Agency for Real Estate Cadastre, local farmers, agricultural organizations, the academic community, and the media. 

The project, under FAO’s Regional Priority Programme on "empowering smallholders, family farms and youth,” runs to mid-2026.  The project will resolve co-ownership through the implementation of a voluntary land consolidation project where the affected landowners in the pilot area will have an opportunity to be compensated in other land. In the pilot area of the Pelagonija region, between the state and private landowners, a voluntary land consolidation project will result in private persons receiving land parcels from the state that they can farm, and they will cede their shares in the large state land parcels to the state. Many of the affected land parcels are under long-term lease by a former agro combinate (state farm), hindering the landowners that own a share jointly with the state to farm their agricultural land.

In his opening remarks, Cvetan Tripunovski, North Macedonia’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Economy, emphasized the vast agricultural possibilities of the Pelagonija region. However, he noted that land fragmentation and co-ownership between the state and private landowners have limited the full use of the arable land, particularly affecting small family farmers. “This project addresses a decades-old problem for about 2 000 private landowners in Pelagonija, who have been unable to utilize their land due to co-ownership with the state,” Tripunovski said. “By resolving these issues, we are putting valuable arable land into production and enabling its maximum use by as many small farmers as possible. This will increase agricultural productivity and open new opportunities for farmers to access state support through the state agricultural development measures.”

Morten Hartvigsen, Lead Technical Officer and FAO Land Tenure Officer, highlighted the need for an integrated approach to land management. “We are combining several land management tools, including land consolidation in a voluntary approach to address these complex land co-ownership issues,” Hartvigsen said. FAO will provide policy advice and pilot the establishment of a methodology to resolve the problems of joint ownership. “Our aim is to identify all cases of co-ownership between the state and private landowners in a pilot area in Pelagonija and implement tailor-made solutions to unlock the full potential of both private and state-owned land in consultation with the affected landowners individually. Ultimately, we hope to directly benefit more than 2 000 landowners co-owning approximately 10 000 hectares of land with the state, which limits its active use for farming.”

This project builds on FAO's support since 2014 for structural land reforms in North Macedonia, which has included the introduction of land consolidation practices and the establishment of a comprehensive National Land Consolidation Programme. It will also support the development of a socioeconomic impact assessment for the first fully completed land consolidation project in Egri village under the EU-FAO MAINLAND project. The assessment aims to evaluate the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the land consolidation process and provide recommendations to the Ministry for monitoring and evaluating the National Land Consolidation Programme in the future.

Smallholder family farms, which contribute significantly to global food production, are crucial to achieving rural development, food security, and sustainable agricultural growth. This project aims to enhance their future livelihoods and sustainability, ensuring long-term benefits for North Macedonia’s agricultural sector.