Most transition countries in Central andEastern Europe face enormous challenges in developing aviable land structure. Due to restitution processes andsocially engaged policies of privatization, wide spread landfragmentation is present. The situation in Armenia iscomparable with many other countries in the region.Privatization was mainly done in the 1990s but continuesuntil now as state and public land still represent arelatively large share of agricultural land. Figures ofArmenia over the last 20 years illustrate minimal change inaverage farm and plot size. This outline is based on reviewand analysis of available data and a visit to Armenia inJune 2017. It aims to contribute to selecting the policyoptions and setting the preconditions in Armenia needed toget a well-functioning rural land market to enlarge farmsand to reduce fragmentation. As shown in this report,experience in the region is still limited which made itnecessary and relevant to refer to experience in WesternEuropean countries. Options are not limited to landconsolidation but include improved management of state land,land banking, agricultural lease regulation and some othersupporting measures. The analysis conducted for this reportdraws on data collected from the Agricultural Census data of2014 and data from the Real property cadastre. Qualitativedata are based on several reports, presentations andinterviews with experts and policy makers listed in theannex. Although further analysis is needed, it is clear thatthe current situation provides a serious risk for theagricultural sector which jeopardises the impact of anysupport to the sector. While Western European countriescould organically adapt and support the sector to changingmarket conditions since the 1950s, the situation in Armenia(and other countries in the region) requires a set ofmeasures which is unprecedented in its scale and intensityto speed up this process.
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