What were the prices of agricultural land during the past year, are there still hollow deals and when to expect a new Land Law? Commentary on these topics from the Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of land owners Stayko Staykov.

Analysis: 176 335 decares of land have changed their owner

When a company is registered and has no cover and history, it should not be allowed for it to use land that is not known to whom belongs. I think that many violations have to be criminalized, said the President of the Bulgarian Association of Land Owners Stayko Staykov on how to limit the abuses in land renting for Farmer.BG. "When a company is transferred, the Parliament refused to give a 5-year period of responsibility limitation for the former owner. But if you take the responsibility for at least 2-3 years and meanwhile the company is effective, there will be no problems. In the new Land Law, this may be mentioned, as well as the problem of ideal parts and many other things that are not good for our agriculture and because of which frauds are still happening. In this way we counter the investors because they are afraid of what will happen to their investment" explained Staykov.

According to him a new Land Law can come out in 2019. “But changes must be made in the new Land Law, in order to prevent the seizure of someone else’s property and I do not think that this will be difficult to be decided” he added. According to Mr. Staykov, the annual land consolidation settlements are convenient for everyone, because no sustainable investments are made, thus the land is depleted increasingly and the added value is less. "I think it is right that the state land should also participate in the consolidation, as well as the expert level should be from all parties, so there is no conflict of interest. In my opinion land consolidation without the participation of the state is meaningless. This is what is called administrative support from the state. For the first five projects we did not have state funding. It is on a voluntary basis, but when something in Bulgaria is on this principle, everyone doubts something will happen, "said Staykov and added:" The idea is to make a mechanism thanks to which the state has some small compensation for its participation, because in order to bring people back to the villages there must be consolidation projects, thus to create some conditions for a normal life. The process of depopulation continues, but it is in Spain too, for example. Everything there is structured around the Mediterranean and in the big cities of Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and there are a lot of problems inside the country.

According to him a new Land Law can come out in 2019. “But changes must be made in the new Land Law, in order to prevent the seizure of someone else’s property and I do not think that this will be difficult to be decided” he added. According to Mr. Staykov, the annual land consolidation settlements are convenient for everyone, because no sustainable investments are made, thus the land is depleted increasingly and the added value is less. "I think it is right that the state land should also participate in the consolidation, as well as the expert level should be from all parties, so there is no conflict of interest. In my opinion land consolidation without the participation of the state is meaningless. This is what is called administrative support from the state. For the first five projects we did not have state funding. It is on a voluntary basis, but when something in Bulgaria is on this principle, everyone doubts something will happen, "said Staykov and added:" The idea is to make a mechanism thanks to which the state has some small compensation for its participation, because in order to bring people back to the villages there must be consolidation projects, thus to create some conditions for a normal life. The process of depopulation continues, but it is in Spain too, for example. Everything there is structured around the Mediterranean and in the big cities of Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and there are a lot of problems inside the country.

Hollow deals
"In principle, it is very difficult to say what speculative deals are, because we as owners periodically find mistakes and have cases for land bought 10 years ago, from which old owners come out," Staykov said. According to him, the hollow deals have drastically declined because two years ago the notaries gained access to personal data base. So there is no opportunity other people to appear in front of them for the transactions. "There were people with fake ID cards who sold the land because they saw in the registers that there was no movement. This problem is now solved" added Staykov.

The rents
This year there has been a stagnation in rent levels as the agri-environment measure fell down, along with worsening weather conditions in some places, there was a retention or a slight drop amongst the bigger owners where the rents are in leva. Where rents are in grain, I think there is no change at the moment. For Northern Bulgaria, the average rent is about 50 leva, and naturally Dobrich, Silistra and the Danube river region must be excluded because they are the most fertile lands, including Vidin, "said Staykov and added:" If the land is arable, the rents are between 80 and 100 leva. The rents were higher before, but there is also a slight decline. "

The price of agricultural land
The price of agricultural land amongst the whole country, based on statistics from the association, has slightly increased with about 5% from the last year. "But it is not something essential because everyone expects what kind of changes will be made in the agriculture sector. There is not so much offering as well as such a demand because everyone is waiting patiently to see what will happen during our presidency of the European Union Council next year. We expect a lot of money to go into farming, but there is a fear whether everything that we are talking about will happen eventually. That's why the market is not stressed right now, "Staykov explained. He added that there is a big demand on larger parcels, but the reason for this is that they are not available. "When there is a high price offer, there are usually no deals," Staykov noted. His expectations for the next year are for stagnation until a decision what will happen is made and in the second half of 2018 may have a more drastic growth of land prices around 10-15%. "For two or three years the market in Bulgaria is stable. The prices of arable land have reached levels that are not a peak but are not low at all. But I do not think there will be new ups or downs on the market. Naturally, in regions that are less fertile at present there is no demand, because with the dropping of the agri-environment measures, many of the funds have been reduced and not compensated in any way. So that is why the prices are low. It is very important for everyone to know what is really buying. Expensive agricultural lands are situated in Northern, Central and South Bulgaria, which are agrarian regions, "said Staykov. The prices of the big parcels - over 200-300 decares can reach over 2000 leva, but this is a matter of negotiation, the chairman of BAAO believes. In his words, everything depends on the investor’s intrest and what kind of culture will be cultivated. “The current trend in Bulgaria at the moment is for growing permanent crops such as lavender, lemon balm, ect. And such an investment is made for permanent plantation. There is no way to invest a lot of money in a fragmented land, then to look for a partial consolidation, because when someone becomes aware of the fact that you want to grow perennials, the neighboring plots can hardly be bought or even blackmail can start and no real consolidation of ownership can take place" added Staykov

Source: fermer.bg