Land Policy and Farm Structure: Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture in the Western Balkan

Although Western Balkan countries are quite different, they can all be characterised by their one shared goal, to achieve the quickest possible accession to the European Union. Even though agriculture plays an important key role within all Western Balkan states, it’s share is the highest in Albania and only Serbia has a trade surplus. Land is a key production factor but all the analysed countries can be characterized by fragmented land structure and low average farm sizes. Mostly based on land ownership issues, a land reform index can be calculated. The major contribution of this paper to the literature is the reevaluated land reform index for the Western Balkans.

Az „iránymutató vízió” szerepe a regionális fejlesztésekben, egy hazai agráripari vállalkozás tapasztalatai (The role of „guiding vision“ on regional developments and experiences of a domestic agro-industrial enterprise)

A szerző tanulmányában külföldi és hazai példák alapján a fenntartható gazdaság kialakítására hoz példákat. Bemutat egy osztrák energiarégiót és egy magyar biodízelgyártó vállalkozást. Mindegyik esetre jellemző, hogy olyan társadalmi-gazdasági környezetet kell teremteni, hogy minden stakeholder a win-win megoldásban legyen érdekelt. _____ Agricultural land ownership and the desirable scale of operation have been the subjects of a plethora of studies. Mainstream research, however, has a tendency not to take the human factor into consideration. The unpredictability of economic policies, uncertainties about EU subsidies, the optimal scale of operation and industry- specific characteristics all constitute a far more exciting and reasonable research topic for the majority. According to literature, social support for the efforts and the existence of a clear “guiding vision” have a crucial role in the success of rural development strategies. Concerning the development of a region or village, it is important to determine whether there exists a leading personality, an example-setting entrepreneur or entrepreneurial group that can act as a fundamental driving force or an initiator in reforming the rural way of life; one that could help preserve positive rural values while nurturing economically successful enterprises. Experience has shown that success can only be built upon partnership and mutual cooperation.