The role of land market in shaping farmland abandonment in post-Soviet Armenia

Abstract

In the face of the growing competition and demand for land resources, abandoned farmland has received renewed attention as a land resource that can either be recultivated or provide other land-use opportunities, including recultivation, options for rewilding, and other alternatives to agricultural land uses. Using the example of Armenia, this study examines farmland abandonment from the perspective of land ownership rights in the post-Soviet transition context from centrally planned to market economies. Through a case study across three villages in the Armavir province of Armenia, we evaluate the role of land markets in farmland abandonment and assess the influencing factors of land market participation by landowners. Based on the analysis of structural surveys with logistic regressions, we reveal that landowners who are willing to lease out and sell their land parcels are more likely to leave their farmland abandoned. Additionally, this study reveals that the most frequent factors of importance for landowners’ selling and leasing intentions are related to the lack of information regarding market price, indicative rent, interested counterparts for transactions. These findings underscore that addressing these factors could enhance land mobility and facilitate the better functioning of the land market. This study examines the extent as well as temporal and spatial aspects of farmland abandonment in the studied villages and highlights other risk factors of farmland abandonment, such as the aging of farmers, a lack of successors to continue farming, and the absence of irrigation. Finally, this study recommends designing an integrated policy response to improve the functioning of agricultural land markets and local farming conditions through rural development and farm structure measures. A toolbox of potential solutions includes lease facilitation or early farmer retirement schemes with the country-wide scope of implementation, as well as solutions applied on a per-project basis such as land consolidation and land banking.