Land fragmentation : is it a curse or a blessing for small family farms?

Gugushvili, Temur (author), Salukvadze, Gvantsa (author), Roep, Dirk (author), Chkhaidze, Vladimer (author)

Agriculture has undergone profound transformations shaped by shifting relations between agency and structure. This article examines the factors influencing small family farm dynamics in rural Georgia within the broader context of the post-Soviet transition. It explores the legacies of a centrally planned economy and the emergence of market relations, focusing on their effects on land ownership, access to resources, and household strategies. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines in-depth interviews with small family farmers and spatial analysis of cadastral data. This framework enables a nuanced understanding of farming under conditions of land fragmentation. The findings highlight how state policies, particularly those contributing to fragmented land ownership, shape agricultural structures and farming models. Farmers’ strategies are further constrained by institutional and policy settings governing access to land. By situating these dynamics in rural Georgia, the article contributes to broader debates on rural development and agrarian change in transitioning economies.

• Language: English
• Keywords: family farms, land ownership, agricultural dynamics, rural area, Georgia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 109-140
• Numbering: [Št.] 64
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180336
• UDC: 911.3:63(479.22)
• ISSN on article: 0354-0596
• COBISS.SI-ID: 269318147
• Publication date in RUL: 06.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Dela
• Publisher: Oddelek za geografijo Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Oddelek za geografijo Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 0354-0596
• COBISS.SI-ID: 23805442

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Razdrobljenost zemljišč: prekletstvo ali prednost za majhne družinske kmetije?

Abstract

Kmetijstvo je doživelo velike preobrazbe, zaznamovane s spreminjajočim se razmerjem med delovanjem akterjev in struktur. Prispevek analizira dejavnike, ki vplivajo na dinamiko majhnih družinskih kmetij na podeželju Gruzije v širšem kontekstu postsocialističnega prehoda. Obravnava dediščino centralno planskega gospodarstva in vzpon tržnih odnosov ter se osredotoča na njihove učinke na lastništvo zemljišč, dostop do virov in strategije gospodinjstev. Študija uporablja kombiniran raziskovalni pristop, pri katerem povezuje poglobljene intervjuje z majhnimi družinskimi kmeti in prostorsko analizo katastrskih podatkov. Ta okvir omogoča poglobljeno razumevanje kmetovanja v razmerah razdrobljenih zemljišč. Ugotovitve poudarjajo, kako državne politike, zlasti tiste, ki prispevajo k razdrobljenemu lastništvu zemljišč, oblikujejo kmetijske strukture in modele kmetovanja. Strategije kmetov so dodatno omejene z institucionalnimi in političnimi okviri, ki urejajo dostop do zemljišč. Z umestitvijo teh procesov v podeželski prostor Gruzije članek prispeva k širšemu razumevanju razvoja podeželja in agrarnih sprememb v tranzicijskih državah.

• Keywords: družinske kmetije, lastništvo zemljišč, kmetijska dinamika, podeželje, Gruzija

Projects

• Funder: SRNSFG - Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia
• Project number: FR-21-907