Resource information
The Republic of Azerbaijan implemented during the late 1990s a land reform, which distributed the state owned agricultural land to the rural population but also led to excessive land fragmentation and small farm sizes. Agricultural and rural development is high on the political agenda in Azerbaijan and is seen as an important sector to development as part of an overall strategy of reducing dependency on income from oil production. The Strategic Roadmap on production and processing of agricultural products in the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted in December 2016 has land consolidation among its strategical priority areas.
To address the problem, FAO implemented upon request from the Ministry of Agriculture in Azerbaijan a project that for the first time introduced land consolidation in the country. The project supported the implementation of a land consolidation pilot project, the development of a draft land consolidation strategy, a draft land consolidation law and a state programme on land consolidation.
This paper provides the background for introduction of land consolidation in Azerbaijan, discusses in the light of good international practice the experiences of the project implemented with support of FAO during 2016-2019 and the way forward.
