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22STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS
S.N. Volkov, E.V. Cherkashina, K.T.Vasilchenko
The rational use and protection of agricultural lands is one of the key conditions for the accelerated growth of agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation, increase of its stability, efficiency, competitiveness and ecological safety at the modern stage of innovative direction of development of the country's economy. Lands use and condition analysis proved that as of 01.01.2018 more then 50 million ha of agricultural lands were not used, areas of irrigated and drained lands are reduced, out of 11.3 million ha of reclaimed areas 33.3% are in an unsatisfactory condition, 13130.1 thousand ha of unclaimed land shares are abandoned and unrecorded, 1062.5 thousand ha of lands are disturbed, crop rotation on area of 70.65 million ha (89 % of arable lands) is disturbed, agricultural lands continue to be degraded, bushed and overgrown with low forest cover, desertification processes are developed, 60% of agricultural lands are eroded, waterlogged, salt-affected and etc. The urgent necessity arises to define the list of priority strategic challenges, economical, organizational and administrative, legal and other kind of mechanisms, as well as the state activities and instruments ensuring the potentially productive use of agricultural lands. The land administration of the efficient use and protection of agricultural lands is one of the most important mechanisms.
Key words: agricultural lands, efficient use, agro-industrial complex, stability, efficiency, competitiveness
DOI:10.24411/2588-0209-2018-10029
Y^K:332.633
The modern stage of innovative development of the country's economy in terms of import substitution requires accelerated growth of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation, increasing its sustainability, efficiency, competitiveness and environmental safety, which is impossible without the rational use and protection of the country's main wealth - agricultural land.
The problem of rational use and protection of land should be solved on the basis of a reasonable analysis of their condition, quality, trends in the formation and development of agricultural land ownership and land use, existing land legislation, modern use of these lands, their management, etc.
In accordance with the materials of the state statistical accounting of the state and use of land in the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2018, the land Fund amounted to 1 712 519.1 thousand hectares, the country had 383227.7 thousand hectares of agricultural land, including 222012.6 thousand hectares of agricultural land.
Dynamics of distribution of the lands of the Russian Federation on categories and lands of agricultural purpose as a part of the land Fund of the country for 1990-2017 are shown in table 1. These data indicate a steady decline in the area of agricultural land, despite the fact that in 2015 were included areas of agricultural land of the Republic of Crimea. Thus, only in 20012015, 595.3 thousand hectares of agricultural land were allocated for non-agricultural needs, including for the construction and expansion of industrial enterprises, transport, energy and other special purpose facilities - 201.0 thousand hectares; for the development of settlements-162.4 thousand hectares; for other needs - 231.9 thousand hectares.
The use of agricultural land area is demonstrated by the data of the 2016 census (table 2). The table shows that in comparison with the data of the 2006 census the total land area of farms of all categories has decreased, the area in agricultural organizations has also decreased, partly due to the increase in the area of peasant (farmer) farms, farms of individual entrepreneurs, country farms. The actual use of agricultural land is 74.0-91.7%. The area of irrigated and drained land has decreased over the decade, in fact, the area that is irrigated (drained) is 36.9% to 62.3%.
Table 1-land Distribution of the Russian Federation by categories1
№ Land category Year 1990 Year 1995 Year 2000 Year 2005 Year 2010 Year 20152 Year 2017
million ha % million ha % million ha % million ha % million ha % million ha % million ha %
1 Agricultural land 639,1 37,4 656,7 38,4 406,0 23,8 401,6 23,5 393,4 23,0 383,7 22,4 383,2 22,4
2 Lands of settlements 7,5 0,5 38,7 2,3 18,7 1,1 19,1 1,1 19,6 1,1 20,3 1,2 20,5 1,2
3 Lands of industry, energy, transport and other special purpose 16,0 0,9 17,6 1,0 17,3 1,0 16,7 1,0 16,8 1,0 17,4 1,0 17,5 1,0
4 Lands of specially protected areas and objects 17,4 1,0 28,8 1,7 32,0 1,9 34,2 2,0 11,6 0,7 47,0 2,8 47,7 2,8
5 Forest Fund lands 895,5 52,4 843,8 49,4 1096,8 64,1 1104,9 64,6 1115,8 65,3 1126,3 65,8 1126,3 65,8
6 Water Fund Lands 4,1 0,2 19,4 1,1 27,8 1,6 27,9 1,6 34,9 2,0 28,1 1,6 28,1 1,6
7 Reserve lands 130,2 7,6 104,8 6,1 111,2 6,5 105,4 6,2 115,8 6,8 89,7 5,2 89,3 5,2
Total land: 1709,8 100,0 1709,8 100,0 1709,8 100,0 1709,8 100,0 1709,8 100,0 1712,5 100,0 1712,5 100,0
1 Note: the materials of The state (national) reports "on the state and use of land in the Russian Federation" for the relevant years (1990-2015) were used here and further in the preparation of tables characterizing the use of land. -
M.: State Committee (Rosreestr), 1991-2016.
2 Taking into account the Republic of Crimea.
Table 2 - Agricultural land use according to the All-Russian Agricultural Census in 2006 and 2016
Indicators Units Land area in farms of all categories Land area of agricultural organizations Land area of farms and individual entrepreneurs
Year 2006 Year 2016 In % by 2006 Year 2006 Year 2016 In % by 2006 Year 2006 Year 2016 In % by 2006
Total land area thous. ha 450 599,5 349 151,1 77,5 410 263,7 291 587,8 71,1 29 370,8 43 312,2 147,5
including agricultural land thous. ha 165 985,0 142 206,7 85,7 132 291,7 90 107,3 68,1 24 143,0 39 576,5 163,9
of which: arable land thous. ha 102 140,0 94 594,0 92,6 82 224,2 64 861,0 78,9 16 740,1 26 846,0 160,4
hayfields thous. ha 13 930,2 10 299,0 73,9 10 176,4 5 067,7 49,8 1 123,9 2 227,2 198,2
pastures thous. ha 35 200,5 26 518,5 75,3 30 201,6 15 202,3 50,3 3 743,7 9 008,3 240,6
perennial plantations thous. ha 778,2 654,1 84,1 373,1 284,6 76,3 27,6 52,6 190,6
fallow thous. ha 13 936,1 10 141,1 72,8 9 316,4 4 691,7 50,4 2 507,7 1 442,4 57,5
Of the total area of agricultural land actually used thous. ha 125 480,3 124 843,3 99,5 97 947,4 80 055,7 81,7 20 094,6 36 271,4 180,5
% 75,6 87,8 74,0 88,8 83,2 91,7
Reclaimed land, total thous. ha 4 780,1 2 889,4 60,4 4 493,6 2 284,7 50,8 286,5 604,7 211,1
among them: - irrigated agricultural land thous. ha 2 375,1 1 817,3 76,5 2 166,5 1 307,2 60,3 208,6 510,1 244,5
of them actually irrigated thous. ha 939,2 1 003,0 106,8 810,3 814,9 100,6 129,0 188,1 145,8
% 39,5 55,2 37,4 62,3 61,8 36,9
- drained agricultural land thous. ha 2 405,0 1 072,1 44,6 2 327,1 977,5 42,0 77,9 94,6 121,4
of them with actually existing drainage network thous. ha 1 100,4 667,2 60,6 1 058,9 607,4 57,4 41,5 59,9 144,3
% 45,8 62,2 45,5 62,1 53,3 63,3
The disposal of agricultural land from circulation is also explained by the transfer of these lands to the land redistribution Fund, which for 2016 is 43 608,6,0 thousand hectares, including agricultural land-11 743,9 thousand hectares, arable land - 3 457,4 thousand hectares.
Significant changes have occurred in the area of arable land - the most valuable type of land in the agricultural land, which is characterized by the highest fertility and potential productivity. In 1990-2017, according to Rosreestr, the area of arable land in the Russian Federation decreased by 16.1 million hectares from 132.3 to 116.2 million hectares (by 12.2 %). This was mainly due to the removal of arable land from processing, transfer of low-productive arable land to forage lands, in the fallow, the area of which in the Russian Federation increased from 347.2 thousand to 4896.4 thousand hectares, i.e. by 4.55 million hectaresArable land in the country is estimated by the results of agrochemical surveys, soil phosphorus, potassium, humus and soil acidity. The dynamics of these indicators in 2009 and 2016 indicates an increase in the area of the surveyed lands, the area of acid soils, soils with low phosphorus content, exchangeable potassium and low humus soils (table 3).
Table 3 - Qualitative characteristics of arable land in the Russian Federation according to the results of monitoring soil fertility (thousand hectares)
Year Acid soils Low phosphorus soils Soils with low content of exchangeable potassium Low humus soils
2009 29420,93 18193,89 7577,41 25783,61
2016 34883,65 22412,43 8822,63 63889,19
At the moment, there is a large share of unused land, according to various departments, their area ranges from 16.7 million hectares (Rosreestr) to 51.85 million hectares (Ministry of agriculture of Russia), 56 million hectares (data of the Accounts Chamber). The area of unused arable land as of January 1, 2017 in the whole country amounted to 19.4 million hectares-16.8% of its total area. Of the total area of unused arable land, 8.69 million hectares (42.1%) were planted and covered, with signs of waterlogging and flooding, there were 464.8 thousand hectares (2.3 %) (figure 1). In General, the Ministry of agriculture of Russia at the end of 2016 estimated the total area of arable land suitable for involvement in agricultural turnover in 10.5 million hectares3.
3 Report on the state and use of agricultural land in the Russian Federation in 2014. - Moscow: Ministry Of Agriculture Of Russia, 2016. - p. 47.
35
30
Ü 25 ö
á 20 1 15
CS
fll
10 5 0
<
•Non-usable arable land without fallow
1990 1995 2000 2005
year
2010
2015
Fig. 1 - Dynamics of the area of unused arable land
A major problem in the use of agricultural land is unclaimed land shares. According to Rosreestr involved in shared ownership is 61839,8 thousand hectares, of them unclaimed in 2017 was 13130,1 thousand hectares (21.2 per cent), 510,3 thousand hectares less than in 2016. The dynamics of unclaimed land shares is shown in table 4.
Table 4-Dynamics of unclaimed land shares
Year Area of unclaimed land shares (thousand hectares) Year Area of unclaimed land shares (thousand hectares)
2005 27 100,0 2012 20 861,3
2006 28 500,0 2013 20 085,7
2007 27 799,9 2014 18 036,3
2008 25 551,6 2015 14 230,4
2009 24 331,2 2016 13 640,4
2010 23 959,9 2017 13 130,1
2011 21750,4
The presence of unused land is due to the continued cessation of activities of a significant number of agricultural organizations and farms due to the lack of financial, labor and material resources to maintain the arable land in good quality and its processing; the expiration of the right to lease land and its renewal; not the completion of the procedure of liquidation of agricultural organizations and farms, as well as a set of other reasons of economic, natural and social nature.
Simultaneously with the reduction of arable land in the Russian Federation, there has been a decrease in the area of crops, irrigated and drained land and an increase in the area under reclaimed land in poor condition. During 1990-2015, acreage in the country decreased by 38.37 million hectares (figure 2), crop rotations were disrupted on the area of 70.65 million hectares (89 % of arable land).
140 Area of crops and pure fallow
Fig. 2 - Dynamics of the area | of crops and pure fallow
1990 1996 2000 2005 2010 2015 year
As of January 1, 2018, there were 11.3 million hectares of reclaimed land in all land categories, 3.1 million hectares of which were in good condition, 4.5 million hectares in satisfactory condition, 3.7 million hectares (33.0%) were in unsatisfactory condition. The dynamics of reclaimed land is shown in table 5.
Table 5 - Dynamics of reclaimed land (thousand hectares)4
Indica tors Irrigated land Drained land
total area of them in conc ition total area of them in condition
good satisfactor y unsatisfact ory good satisfact ory unsatisf actory
2005 4553,4 2168,6 1169,9 1214,9 6745,8 928,6 3463,3 2353,9
2006 4512,7 2125,6 1180,7 1172,6 6744,7 947,0 3379,6 2363,9
2007 4434,9 2126,0 1156,4 1119,9 6740,9 970,6 3335,0 2381,1
2008 4346,4 2032,8 1185,5 1121,1 6714,7 982,9 3330,2 2362,4
2009 4305,0 2022,6 1171,2 1111,2 6709,8 950,5 3289,8 2469,5
2010 4283,4 2019,8 1169,2 1094,4 6673,6 868,9 3323,4 2481,3
2011 4285,1 2031,9 1154,8 1098,4 6662,6 853,0 3220,1 2589,5
2012 4285,8 2034,3 1147,7 1103,8 6659,0 862,1 3175,7 2621,2
2013 4265,0 1989,8 1145,8 1129,4 6658,6 859,2 3163,0 2636,4
2014 4260,1 2002,6 1136,1 1121,4 6655,8 930,7 3331,7 2393,4
2015 4655,5 2176,0 1325,6 1153,9 6672,1 881,0 3206,8 2584,3
2016 4659,7 2168,8 1333,9 1157,0 6671,6 857,3 3230,9 2583,4
2017 4658,7 2172,7 1340,8 1145,2 6596,3 893,9 3145,2 2557,2
Table 6 shows the dynamics of the disturbed land area, in the last decade from 2005 to
2007 there was an active increase in the area of disturbed land, in 2008 a lot of work on the reclamation of disturbed land, but since 2009 their area began to increase again.
Table 6 - Dynamics of disturbed lands in the Russian Federation 5
Year Area of disturbed land (thous. ha) Year Area of disturbed land (thous. ha)
1994 1282,6 2006 1135,0
1995 1139,4 2007 1145,0
1996 1179,6 2008 989,4
1997 no data 2009 995,0
4,5 Calculated according to the State (national) report "On the state and use of land in the Russian Federation in 2005-2016". - M.: Rosreestr
Area of disturbed land Area of disturbed land
Year (thous. ha) Year (thous. ha)
1998 1186,3 2010 1000,3
1999 1141,6 2011 1013,7
2000 1150,4 2012 1040,8
2001 1150,9 2013 1051,3
2002 1136,3 2014 1057,8
2003 1100, 0 2015 1037,0
2004 1117,0 2016 1058,6
2005 1116,7 2017 1062,5
On the basis of the analysis of agricultural land use it is necessary to determine the list of priority strategic objectives, economic, organizational, administrative, legal and other mechanisms, as well as government measures and tools to ensure the long-term use of agricultural land on the principles of rationality and efficiency in the new economic conditions.
Such strategic directions should include:
- institutional and organizational support of agricultural land management;
- legal regulation in the field of land relations in relation to agricultural land;
- improving the powers of the Russian Federation in the field of agricultural land management;
- land management ensuring the rational use and protection of agricultural land;
- improvement of methods of economic stimulation of the organization of rational use of agricultural lands;
- improvement of information support for the rational use of agricultural land;
- improvement of agricultural education and research in the field of rational use of agricultural land.
Special mention should be made of the need for land management to ensure the rational use and protection of agricultural land, which should include:
- completion of differentiation of state ownership of land on Federal, subjects of the Russian Federation, municipalities;
- carrying out the General land surveying of the Russian Federation (to establish and fix on the territory of borders of territories of subjects of the Russian Federation; municipalities (municipal areas, city settlements, city districts, rural settlements, the closed administrative-territorial formations); settlements; territorial zones, zones with special conditions of use of territories, and also parts of the specified territories and zones);
- completion of establishment and consolidation (delimitation and demarcation) of the state border of the Russian Federation;
- systematic (every 5 years) inventory of agricultural land to identify unused, irrationally used or used for other purposes and not in accordance with the permitted use of land, other characteristics of land (by ownership, categories, land, reclamation, etc.) and to implement measures for their redistribution, the organization of rational use and protection in the order of land management;
- renewal of land management works on carrying out soil, geobotanical, agricultural surveys of agricultural lands, assessment of their qualitative characteristics, update the data of the state cadastral evaluation of lands, as well as assessment of the quality of lands that are the native habitat of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation;
- carrying out target land management works on inspection and identification of the condition and use of floodplain lands, arid pastures, reclaimed lands;
- development for the purpose of complex planning of sustainable development of rural territories, increase of efficiency of regional and municipal agro-industrial complex of schemes of land management of territories of subjects of the Russian Federation, schemes of land management of municipalities;
- carrying out experimental land management works on zoning of agricultural lands and determination of land use regulations;
- providing drawing up or updating of target schemes of use and protection of agricultural lands in subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities: schemes of placement of especially protected natural territories; schemes of placement of territories of traditional nature management in places of residence and economic activity of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East; General schemes of the organization of the territory of deer pastures; schemes of zoning of territories for placement of gardening, gardening and country non-profit associations of citizens; schemes of anti-erosion actions; schemes of formation of target land funds; schemes of providing with the parcels of land at resettlement of refugees, displaced persons and the military personnel dismissed in a stock from ranks of Armed forces; schemes of placement of the parcels of land intended for housing and social construction;
- updating of data of natural and agricultural zoning of the territory of the Russian Federation;
- zoning of rural (inter-settlement) territories by subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities on their suitability for use in agriculture and on this basis to develop rules of land use and development of agricultural land, agricultural (land use) regulations, limit (maximum and minimum) sizes of land;
- development of land redistribution and land surveying projects to involve 17.2 million hectares of unclaimed land shares in agricultural use and economic turnover;
- reorganization of the territory of the bankrupt agricultural organizations on the area of 15,9 million hectares which lands are considered in cadastral documents as used by producers of commodity agricultural products while owners of the rights to these lands are excluded from the corresponding registers of legal entities and physical persons;
- implementation of consolidation of land plots of the redistribution Fund on the area of 43.7 million hectares, including 11.9 million hectares of agricultural land, of which 3.5 million hectares of arable land, within the boundaries of municipal districts in order to ensure their effective use by leasing or selling on competitive terms;
- identification, establishment of boundaries, location and area of 24.4 million hectares of agricultural land in other categories of land (excluding agricultural land), and taking measures for their further use for the production of commercial agricultural products or exclusion from agricultural turnover with the development of new land development programs instead of withdrawn;
- implementation of conservation of low-productive and technogenic contaminated agricultural land through the development of appropriate land management projects and organization of their implementation;
- establishment in the order of land management of restrictions and encumbrances in the use of agricultural land, register them and take measures to collect compensation payments in favor of agriculture for the inconvenience of land ownership and land use;
- carrying out intraeconomic land management for the purpose of the organization of rational use of lands of agricultural purpose and their protection, and also the lands used by communities of indigenous small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation for ensuring their traditional way of life;
- implementation during the on-farm land management performance of the following types of work:
a) the organization of rational use by citizens and legal entities of land plots for agricultural production, as well as the organization of territories used by communities of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation, to ensure their traditional way of life;
b) development of measures to improve agricultural lands, development of new lands, restoration and conservation of lands, recultivation of disturbed lands, protection of lands from erosion, mudflows, flooding, waterlogging, secondary salinization, desiccation, compaction, pol-
lution by production and consumption wastes, radioactive and chemical substances, contamination and other negative impacts;
- provision of land management justification of measures for the conservation and improvement of soil fertility, agroforestry, hydraulic engineering, infrastructure development of agricultural land;
- provision of land management assistance to the farms included in the state programs of development of agriculture, markets of raw materials and food, increase of soil fertility; land reclamation and development, priority national projects for the development of agro-industrial complex;
- improvement of the theoretical basis, methods and technologies of land management, real estate cadastre, land assessment and monitoring.
References
1. «On Land Management»: Federal Law №78-FZ, dated 18 June 2001 // Russian gazette of 23 June 2017.
2. 2. Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation №717, dated 14 July 2012 «Approval of the State-Run Program of Agricultural Development and Regulation of Agricultural Product Markets, Raw Materials and Food for 2013-2020».
3. Order of the Government of the Russian Federation №297-r, dated 03 March 2012 [as amended by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation №1652-r, dated 28 August 2014], electronic source: «On the affirmation "Bases of the State Policy in Using the Land Fund of the Russian Federation for 2012-2020"». Available at: http://docs.cntd.ru/document/ 902334110.
4. Volkov S.N. Legal and Economic Encouragement of Land Management Works for Development, Rational Use and Conservation of Rural Lands // Land Management, Land Monitoring and Cadaster, 2017, no.4, pp.6-11. (in Russian).
5. Volkov S.N., Lipski S. A. Legal and Land Use Planning Measures for Involvement of Unused Agricultural Land into Economic Circulation and for Ensuring Their Effective Use // Land Management, Land Monitoring and Cadaster, 2017, no.2, pp. 5-10. (in Russian).
6. Volkov S.N. Projects of Land Regulation - the Basis of Rational Use and Protection of Agricultural Land// Land Management, Land Monitoring and Cadaster, 2017, no.4, p.5. (in Russian).
7. Volkov S.N. The Current State of Land Relations, Land Use and Land Management in the Russian Federation and the Scientific Evidence of the Main Directions of their Regulation in Agro-Industry. Moscow, State University of Land Use Planning Publ., 2017. 72 p.
8. Volkov S.N. Academic and Technological Innovations in the Land and Property Complex of Russia as a Factor of Efficiency Increase for Agro-Industry. [Materials of the Congress of the all-Russian public organization "Russian public Association of agricultural econo-mists», dated 14 June 2018] Volkov S.N., Khlystun V.N., Cherkashina E.V. // Under the editorship of Volkov S.N., Tsypkin U.A. Moscow, State University of Land Use Planning Publ., 2018, pp. 38-49.
9. State (national) report «On Condition and Using Land in the Russian Federation for the period of 2005-2015». Rosreestr. Moscow.
10. Report on the Condition and Use of Agricultural Land in the Russian Federation in 2014 // Ministry of Agriculture, Moscow, 2016, pp. 22-26.
About the authors:
Sergey Nikolayevich Volkov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economics, the Rector of the State University of Land Use Planning (15, Kazakova Street, Moscow, 105064, Russia)
Elena Vyacheslavovna Cherkashina, Doctor of Economics, the Vice Rector for Economic and Financial Affairs of the State University of Land Use Planning (15, Kazakova Street, Moscow, 105064, Russia)
Karina Tigranovna Vasilchenko, specialist and expert of the Property and Land Relations Division of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Executive Office of the Government of the Russian Federation (2, Krasnopresnenskaya na-berezhnaya Street, 103274, Moscow).
