Agriculture in Georgia (country) - Land Distribution

Land Distribution

During the Soviet era, agriculture was characterized by absolute state ownership of all agricultural land and concentration of production in large-scale collective farms, which averaged 428 hectares in size. When Georgia became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the entire country was in total disarray facing a bitter civil war. Georgian agriculture collapsed, and the land held by large collective farms was quickly distributed to rural households in an attempt to avoid famine. This desperate goal was achieved as Georgian agriculture quickly recovered in 1993-95. The recovery raised the volume of agricultural production in recent years by 25%-30% above its lowest level in 1993, yet the initial collapse was so dramatic that agricultural output today is still 40% below what it was in 1990.

Even under Soviet rule, Georgia had a vigorous private agricultural sector, producing crops and livestock on small plots allocated to rural residents and town dwellers in lifetime inheritable possession. In 1990, according to official statistics, the private sector contributed 46% of gross agricultural output, and private productivity averaged about twice that of the state farms.

As was the case with enterprise privatization, President Gamsakhurdia postponed systematic land reform because he feared that local mafias would dominate the redistribution process. But within weeks of his ouster in early 1992, the new government issued a land reform resolution providing land grants of one-half hectare to individuals with the stipulation that the land be farmed. Commissions were established in each village to inventory land parcels and identify those to be privatized. Limitations were placed on what the new "owners" could do with their land, and would-be private farmers faced serious problems in obtaining seeds, fertilizer, and equipment. By the end of 1993, over half the cultivated land was in private hands. Small plots were given free to city dwellers to relieve the acute food shortage that year.

Georgia completely individualized its agriculture as early as 1992-93. The individual sector in Georgia currently produces almost 100% of agricultural output, up from 40% before 1990. The shift of production to the individual sector is a reflection of the dramatic increase in the land holdings of rural households. Prior to 1990, only 7% of agricultural land was individual use. A decade later, in 2000, 37% of agricultural land (or more than 70% of arable land) is used by individual farmers.

The universality of land distribution to rural families produced relatively small holdings. Thus, the average size of an individual farm in Georgia is 0.96 hectares and only 5% of farms are larger than 2 hectares.

Size distribution of individual farms in Georgia (early 2000s)