Assessment of the needs for land consolidation in Kaunas district, Lithuania

Abstract

Agriculture is the most important branch of economy. However, agriculture faces unemployment, emigration, lack of education/ qualifications and fragmentated land, which hinder the expansion and competitiveness of rural regions and the formation of efficient agriculture in Lithuania. Land consolidation (LC) could support strengthening farmers providing their fragmentated land in efficient shape and size for agriculture production. As LC process is expensive for state, there is a need to evaluate potential distcts/regions in Lithuania to lead through LC process. The aim of the research is to assess the needs for land consolidation for sustainable agriculture in Kaunas district, which is the largest districts in Lithuania. The secondary data, including cadastral and statistical, and the results from the farmers survey (primary data) allowed to assess cadastral areas in Kaunas district to prioritize them for LC. The analysis on intensity of land use, crop declaration and livestock register data in each cadastral area carried out. Expert and multiple criteria decision analyses (MCDA) were applied to distinguish cadastral areas and prioritise them for LC according following criteria: irrationally located land plots, the largest cultivated land areas, level of land fragmentation, number of problems that could be resolved by LC, land consolidation efficiency indicator. The results of the study showed that more than half of all cadastral areas in Kaunas district have potential for land consolidation. Based on experts’ analysis approach and the results from applied MCDA, the cadastral areas: Daugėliškiai, Lapės, Pagynė and Zapyškis have the highest potential to proceed for LC