Land reform in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 and its outcome in the form of farm structures and land fragmentation

Abstract

The countries in Central and Eastern Europe began a remarkable transition from a centrally-planned economy towards a market economy in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron Curtain lifted. Land reforms with the objective to privatize state-owned agricultural land, managed by large-scale collective and state farms, were high on the political agenda in most countries of the region at the beginning of the transition. More than 20 years later the stage of implementation of land reform varies. Some countries had already finalized land reform in the mid-1990s, others are in the process, and a few have still not taken any significant steps.