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Georgia Land Redistribution
Until the land-privatization program that began in 1992, most
Georgian farms were state-run collectives averaging 428 hectares
in size. Even under Soviet rule, however, Georgia had a vigorous
private agricultural sector. In 1990, according to official
statistics, the private sector contributed 46 percent of gross
agricultural output, and private productivity averaged about
twice that of the state farms (see
table 20, Appendix). Under the
state system, designated plots were leased to farmers and town
dwellers for private crop and livestock raising. As during the
Soviet era, more than half of Georgia's meat and milk and nearly
half of its eggs come from private producers.
As was the case with enterprise privatization, Gamsakhurdia
postponed systematic land reform because he feared that local
mafias would dominate the redistribution process. But within
weeks of his ouster in early 1992, the new government issued a
land reform resolution providing land grants of one-half hectare
to individuals with the stipulation that the land be farmed.
Commissions were established in each village to inventory land
parcels and identify those to be privatized. Limitations were
placed on what the new "owners" could do with their land, and
would-be private farmers faced serious problems in obtaining
seeds, fertilizer, and equipment. By the end of 1993, over half
the cultivated land was in private hands. Small plots were given
free to city dwellers to relieve the acute food shortage that
year.
Data as of March 1994
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