Georgia introduces land consolidation to improve farm structures, boost productivity

Agricultural land in Georgia is highly fragmented, limiting productivity and investment in farms and in rural areas in general.

Aiming to address this problem, representatives from a wide range of Georgian institutions participated in a 20 November workshop in Tbilisi under the first phase of a planned three-and-a-half-year project to support the introduction of land consolidation in Georgia. The project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with financial support from the World Bank and the Government of Georgia.

“In places where agricultural land is highly fragmented and farm sizes are persistently small, land consolidation helps enhance the efficiency, sustainability and resilience of farming systems,” said Morten Hartvigsen, FAO Land Tenure Officer and Regional Priority Programme Coordinator. “In Georgia, the launch of this project marks an important step towards building an integrated and multipurpose land consolidation approach that can contribute significantly to agricultural development by improving inefficient farm structures, integrated with climate action and the improvement of nature and environment.”

Building on an FAO feasibility study from 2023, the project initiates the country’s national land consolidation process, aiming to reduce land fragmentation and facilitate voluntary farm enlargement. Project goals are realized in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the Land Management Agency, with additional support from the National Agency of Public Registry and National State Property Agency.

Workshop participants received an overview of European experiences with land consolidation and enjoyed presentations on the country’s draft National Land Consolidation Strategy and accompanying concept paper on land banking.
Officials from the Agrarian Committee of the Parliament of Georgia and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture joined with representatives of the other ministries, agencies and municipalities (Khashuri and Kareli) to discuss key strategic directions for advancing land consolidation.

Promoting land banking

The event featured in-depth discussion on the national need for land consolidation, the institutional benefits expected from the proposed strategy, and the ways in which a land banking approach could support more efficient land use and rural development.

“Introducing land banking in Georgia is an essential step towards ensuring that land consolidation can truly deliver better and more efficient farm structures,” said FAO Land Tenure Officer Maxim Gorgan. “Our experience across Europe shows that a well-designed land pool greatly improves land mobility and expands the options available to farming families.”

Land banking, when applied transparently and on a voluntary basis, can help farmers grow their holdings and support multifunctional rural development, Gorgan added.

“By establishing the right legal and institutional foundations,” he said, “Georgia can create a modern land banking system that strengthens local agriculture and supports broader public-interest projects.”

As part of the World Bank’s Georgia Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation and Land Project (GRAIL), the project aims to enhance efficient land use, agricultural productivity and investment through improved land governance in Georgia. It integrates land consolidation with irrigation rehabilitation under the GRAIL project, addressing inefficiencies in land use and irrigation infrastructure and supporting the development of agricultural land markets. Its importance lies in creating the legal, institutional and technical foundation for a future national land consolidation programme. It aims to contribute to enhanced food security, climate resilience, gender equity and rural poverty reduction by improving agricultural productivity and efficient land and water use and strengthening tenure security in Georgia.