A PROPOSAL FOR CREATING A LAND MARKET IN ALBANIA

This paper reviews the land situation in Albania, and the need for the establishment of a land market, following the distribution of ex-coop erative land to 360,000 farm families. For a land market to be establi shed, a number of institutional modifications have to be introduced, a mong them the creation of a Property Records System (PRS), with suppor ting legislation and institutional innovations. The Albanian approach to the distribution of land previously owned by the State and organize d into collective farms has been to have village land distribution com missions divide up the land on a per capita basis for all residents of villages within the boundaries of the ex-cooperatives. This has resul ted in a high degree of fragmentation, but at the same time, has met t he demands of the population for access to land on a family basis. Wha t remains to be done is the establishment of the institutional framewo rk for assuring secure rights to land over the long term. The paper de scribes a project to achieve these objectives, the first phase being n ow underway, under funding from the U.S. Agency for International Deve lopment.