March 12 (SeeNews) - United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday it selected twelve agriculture land sites as part of the implementation of the EU-funded mainstreaming of the national land consolidation programme (MAINLAND) in Macedonia.
“Land consolidation tailor-made to the specific situation in the country is an effective instrument to address structural problems with land fragmentation and small farm sizes,” Morten Hartvigsen, land tenure officer at the FAO regional office for Europe and Central Asia said in a press release.
The selection process is the culmination of a series of preparatory activities that took place over the past several months, the statement added.
“The selected communities are: Stojakovo in Bogdanci Municipality; Logovardi, Trn, Opticari, and Zabeni in Bitola Municipality; Leshani in Debarca Municipality; Cheshinovo, Sokolarci, Spanchevo, and Chiflik in Cheshinovo-Obleshevo Municipality; Carev Dvor in Resen Municipality; and Monospitovo in Strumica Municipality,” FAO said.
The next step of the project is to launch an open tender to conduct feasibility studies in the selected areas.
The land consolidation project is part of a region-wide initiative aiming to empower smallholders and family farms for improved rural livelihoods and poverty reduction.
The EU-funded MAINLAND project is implemented by FAO in close cooperation with the Macedonian ministry of agriculture. Until 2020, the project will assist the ministry to manage and implement the programme by developing the expertise and strengthening the technical and administrative capacities of the ministry and key local stakeholders.
Macedonia was granted EU candidate status in 2015.