Moldova's land market is victim to failed reforms, think tank

Viorel Chivriga, an expert with the think tank “IDIS Viitorul”, finds in a study that agriculture lacks in Moldova because there are depopulated villages. The land reforms have failed and discourage long-term investments, what makes the people abandon the agricultural sector, reads the work presented on July 21, Info-Prim Neo reports. The author maintains that the farm lands were privatized too late, in a non-transparent manner, without observing the principles of social equity. The partial legislation allowed some interest groups to buy land at small prices and to get the best areas. The main barriers in the development of the land market are the cliches that there is not enough land, since Moldova is a small state and the soil is absolutely fertile. “The arable land resting with a Moldovan inhabitant is twice bigger than the world average, which is 0.26 ha per capita and the European average — 0.23 ha per capita.” Viorel Chivriga told a news conference. The land-related legislation contains contradictions and faults, the expert says. “We have got a huge number of laws regulating the land relations. The lack of correlation is much more than obvious. There are land owners not aware of where their land is. There are areas with uncertain statuses. The worst thing is that some shortcomings in the law can be manipulated to meet one's group interests,” Chivriga remarked. The expert recommends to set up a land bourse, which would monitor the deals in the area and the investment opportunities. Chivriga adds the land fund remained divided. “Putting the land together is but a show, since over half of the lands are leased for up to three years, what discourages the investments in agriculture,” Chivriga explained. The author of the research recommends to modify the law in order to allow foreign businessmen to buy lands in Moldova, with certain restrictions for lands in poor localities. As for the perspectives of the development of the land market, the author finds there are clear pre-conditions to raise the number of deals. “The land market will experience a faster growth, given the enhanced interest of investors for lands destined for agriculture,” the expert says. Chivriga forecasts an enhanced growth of the farm land prices, especially in the faster developing localities: Balti, Orhei, Chisinau, Ungheni, Cahul.