Macedonia's Ministry of Agriculture launched Monday a European Union-funded project aimed to support agricultural land consolidation, a process of grouping land parcels, local media reported.
The project named Mainstreaming of the National Land Consolidation Program (MAINLAND) will assist to enlarge groupings of land parcels, optimize farm holdings and establish necessary infrastructure, representatives of agriculture ministry said.
The project is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in cooperation with Macedonia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy.
Ministry officials informed that the MAINLAND project, amounting to 2.5 million euros (2.73 million U.S. dollars), is expected to last 3.5 years.
According to them, land consolidation directly increases efficiency in agricultural production and contributes to improvement of the living standard of rural communities.
The main beneficiaries of the project are small-scale farmers.
A large majority of the agricultural holdings in Macedonia are of very small size, being less than 2 hectares. The authorities here consider this excessive agricultural land fragmentation as the biggest challenge for the agricultural sector.