Land market in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nikic, Petra & Tihomir Predic
Recent war has had a major effect on land market and land worth in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The movement and displacement of people caused deep changes in the distribution pattern of the population on the ground. While even before the war there was unused agricultural land in B&H because of migration of people from rural areas to towns and abroad, its amount has been greatly increased during the war. Economic considerations are another factor contributing to the increase of abandoned land. State farms leave significant areas of land uncultivated because they cannot sell its produce profitably. Minefields are still one of the main constraint to the development of the rural areas in B&H. Other constraints can be identified in the persistent uncertainty of the legal land property rights, the fragmentation of the land and the large number of displaced people. It is estimated that after the war 3,000 hectares of agricultural land are permanently lost to other land uses annually. It was often the most fertile and accessible cropland but after the war there was no reliable record of those land use changes. Hence, in period since 2000 until 2002 FAO and Italian government with local institutions has carried out Inventory of land resources in post war situation in B&H . The final result of this project was intended for ministries of entities, in fact for decision makers, because reliable and timely information on land use would be essential for sustainable land management.
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