Georgia- Context and Land Governance

The total area is 69,700km2. In 2020 the population was 3.7 million[2]. This represents a decline from a 1992 high of 5.5 million, due to the outmigration of both Georgian and non-Georgian residents after the fall of the Soviet Union, including those escaping war and economic deprivation[3]. According to the 2014 census, 87% of the population comprise ethnic Georgians, while the rest is chiefly a mix of ethnic Azeri, Armenians, and Russians.

Georgia voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with Zviad Gamsakhurdia elected as the first president. He was ousted in January 1992, shortly followed by violent civil confrontation and armed ethnopolitical conflicts in two Georgian regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which lasted until the late 1993. This devastated the national economy, which contracted by 65%. Former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze became Chairman of the State Council of Georgia in 1992 (effectively becoming Head of State) before becoming the country’s first president in 1995. He was ousted following mass protests in 2003 against rampant corruption (the Rose Revolution). Ethnopolitical conflict with Russia emerged in the 1990s, leading to a legacy of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). This was compounded by a brief war in 2008 between Georgia and Russia, linking to military clashes and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population.This led to the self-proclaimed Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with around 12,560km2 maintained under Russian control, retaining an element of control over the South Caucasian region. Since February 2021, Irakli Garibashvili has been prime minister (for the second time) with a majority for his Georgia Dream Party and a highly polarised relationship to the opposition party UNM (United National Movement)[4].

Economically Georgia was one of the most prosperous Republics during Soviet times[5]. Its subsequent movement to a free-market economy was complemented with the privatisation of much land. Despite the initial economic contraction, there has been growth during the last decade, instigated by economic reforms during the post-Shevardnadze era. In 2014, the country signed an Association Agreement with the European Union (EU), which included a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. It has reached middle-income status, although growth is focused in urban areas, leaving behind a stagnant rural economy. Traditionally a core sector, agriculture suffered from post-independence political conflicts, the loss of an all-Soviet market and a lack of investment. Despite the population drop, the country became a net food importer [6].

Land legislation and regulations

The Georgian constitution from 1995 (amended in 2004, 2010 and 2017-18) recognises the right to acquire, alienate and inherit property[7]. Articles 147-315 in the 1997 Civil Code more specifically govern land transactions and inheritance.

In 1992, the government enacted the Land Privatization Decree. In rural areas this focused on yards, gardens, orchards, and collective- (kolkhoz) and state-owned (sovkhoz) farms. In its first stage, this was carried out free of charge, involving the allocation of up to 1.25 hectares from state and collective farm holdings to each household, and up to 5 hectares in highland areas. At this stage, formal land ownership in urban areas was retained by the state, and land was given out for lifetime use that was heritable[8]. The full privatisation of agricultural land, on the other hand, was restricted by the lack of supporting legislation (until the 1996 law mentioned below) and a fully-functioning land administration (available from the mid-2000s).

The actual transfer of private rights in rural areas was allowed by the 1996 Law on Agricultural Land Ownership. The aim was to make subsistence and market-oriented sectors[9]. The former sector resulted in small private family farms which fragmented into even smaller plots questioned for their productivity. The latter sector involved more than half of agricultural land being retained as state land (albeit with a majority of this land comprising pastures and hayfields for collective use)[10], to be leased out for commercial agricultural ventures, under support from the 1996 Law on Agricultural Land Leasing. Yet only a small proportion of this land was rented out, with many areas containing poor quality soils.

Despite the movement to privatise land, it was only later that a registration system was formalised, governed under the 2004 Law on State Registry. The National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) was formed in the same year to govern a new public registry, managing both land registration and the national cadastre. In rural areas, a second wave of privatisation followed the 2005 Law on the Privatisation of State-Owned Agricultural Lands, which allowed transactions by auction or direct sale[11]. The law was in turn superseded by the 2010 Law on State Property, by which point most arable land was under private ownership and state land being predominantly pastures. The 2006 Law on Local Self-Governance had transferred pastureland to the ownership of municipalities. The 2010 Law on State Property then brought such land under the authority of the Agency for State Property, within the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. However, municipalities in places retained control of pastures where they had registered it as agricultural land and municipal property before 2010.  Both 2005 and 2010 laws prohibited the privatisation of pasturelands except for areas leased before 2005. A deadline for any transfer to private ownership was now set as May 2011. Since then, only leaseholds are possible for state land through national auctions.

^{Sno river valley, Caucasian mountains, Georgia, photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license}

Land tenure classifications

There is private, state, church, and municipal land ownership in Georgia[12]. Leaseholds of these different types of land are also possible. Practically all residential land is now privatised, as is a high proportion of industrial and urban land[13].

In rural areas, at the end of the Soviet era, agricultural land use was dominated by 1,300 large state and collective farms, leaving aside a small area catering to the smallholdings of around 700,000 rural households. Following the 2011 Law on the Public Registry, agricultural land was split into the following categories[14]:

• arable lands (for perennial crops, vegetable gardens, or orchards)
• hayfields
• pasturelands
• personal plots (for household use)

With the aim for the full privatisation of land limited due to developing legislative and administrative support in initial land reform, there was instead frequent activation of leaseholds, allowed for up to 49 years[15]. Between 1992 and 1998, state plots were distributed to about one million families, which was around 90% of the population[16]. However, arable land is now mostly privatised and recorded in the public registry, under use by smallholdings and corporate farms. The 2014 Agricultural Census highlights 734,825 hectares of privatised farm holdings against 107,464 hectares of rented land[17]. Since 2005 (through the Law on the Privatisation of State-Owned Agricultural Lands) privatised agricultural land could no longer be leased. Pastureland on the other hand can only be privatised under certain conditions, while state leaseholds are permitted, although there has been much informal usage under free access. There are village pastures on local common land and pastures outside residential areas, which are generally self-regulated by users[18]. Municipal land ownership includes pasturelands, and also some agricultural land, protected areas, state forest reserve land, and historical monuments.

Land registration has been simplified and digitalised over the years, ensuring it can now take place at speed and at low cost. In 2006, NAPR (National Agency of Public Registry) introduced an integrated digital land registration and cadastre system available throughout the country. The registry has expanded to include transfer information, attached geo-referencing, mortgage information, and other data. Since 2016, the country is moving to switch from a public registry to one based on blockchain technology, with NAPR partnering with the Bitfury Group[19]. This is claimed to be highly cost-effective, encouraging a land market and foreign investment. In 2018, 1.5 million titles were registered on the blockchain-based system. Since 2020, there has been an attempt to register all land in the country, using both systemic and sporadic approaches. This follows the 2020 Law on the Improvement of Cadastral Data and the Procedure for Systematic and Sporadic Registration of Rights to Plots of Land within the Framework of the State Project.

Land use trends

Agriculture remains an important sector in Georgia, albeit one with a diminished economic contribution and area of land use. According to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there has been a dramatic reduction in the amount of arable land in Georgia from 11.4% of total land area in 1992 to 4.4% in 2019[20]. Meanwhile, the contribution of the sector to national GDP has declined from 20.6% in 2000 to 6.5% in 2019[21]. These decreases can be attributed to a number of factors, including increased land degradation, and outmigration both from the country and from rural to urban areas. There is a significant amount of unused arable land, mainly in the Eastern part of the country, while 65-70% of the country has poor soils[22]. Nevertheless, the sector retains an important proportion of the working population, which was over 50% at the turn of the century and in 2019 stood at 38.2%[23]. Key crops include grains (wheat and maize), grapes (for wine), potatoes and a mixture of fruits[24]. Permanent pastures have seen less proportional change than arable land, shifting from 30.1% of total land area in 1992 to 27.8% in 2019. Cattle and sheep are the most common livestock. However, there is a risk of overgrazing on pastoral land, while access is problematic in areas of conflict. Overall agriculture lacks significant investment, with much production catering to subsistence needs through which low incomes are derived[25].

^{Kakheti, Georgia-Georgian vineyards, photo by Levan Gokadze, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license}

Forests are an extensive and important resource in Georgia, covering 40.5% of land in 2019. However, there is an issue of illegal logging and the more recent threat of infrastructure development. Yet in a country with high rural poverty and a lack of available alternative heating sources, forestry may be the most feasible site to access wood for fuel and other non-timber products. The new 2020 Forest Code governs forest use, maintenance, and restoration. The law introduces multifunctional forest use and inclusive forms of management. There are state, communal and private forests, governed under a principle of free access for non-commercial use[26]. However, the law has proved controversial in allowing the Georgian Orthodox Church to own forestland[27].

Concurrent with a shift to a market economy has been the movement from a rural to an urban-based economy[28]. There are significant disparities in wealth, not just between urban and rural areas, but also between the capital Tbilisi and other cities. In 2020, almost 60% of Georgia’s population resided in urban areas, with over one million people, nearly one third of the national population, in the capital[29].

^{Tbilisi, photo by pasaheros, public domain}

Land investments and acquisitions

Georgia is a historically important trading point at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, located on the Old Silk Road[30]. Its role as a trading partner remains, with a highly liberalised foreign trade policy. It is the only country in the region that has Free Trade agreements with both the EU and China[31]. There is a pending development of Anaklia deepwater port, which would be part of a free economic zone, and aims to facilitate transport of goods through the Black Sea, catering to markets both west and east. Meanwhile, although mineral exploitation has decreased since independence, the country acts as an important transport route for oil and gas into international markets[32]. Three major pipelines pass through the country, linking Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.

^{Anaklia port dredging, photo by Jelger Groeneveld, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license}

Land markets in Georgia are still developing and are more active in urban and peri-urban over rural areas. In particular, the Russia-Ukraine war has influenced a surge in prices. Land market development is seen as a pathway to stimulate the agricultural sector and establishing clear land property rights could help attract investment[33]. However, land prices remain depressed in areas with less economic activity, such as the development of tourism. Markets are not helped by excessive land fragmentation, but in economically productive rural areas (such as with cash crops on the Black Sea coastline) a market-driven land consolidation is taking place as private landowners expand their farms.

The state may expropriate land in the public need and with appropriate compensation. At the time of independence land property rights did not allow foreign ownership. However, unrestricted sales were permitted from 2010 onwards, particularly facilitated through the ease of acquiring dual Georgian citizenship[34]. By 2013 nationalist rallies involving different interest groups were taking place demanding the reversal of such laws. As a result, parliament passed a bill suspending transfers of land to foreign entities until the end of 2014, although this suspension was soon repealed by the Constitutional Court. In 2017, a constitutional amendment introduced a ban on foreign ownership of agricultural land, albeit with loopholes for certain cases. Foreign purchase of residential real estate is still allowed.

Women’s land rights

In principle, all the legal mechanisms are in place to eliminate discrimination against women. The Constitution calls for equal rights for men and women, including over the inheritance of property [35]. The Civil Code reiterates these rights, stating that women can own and manage property by themselves, as well as acquire credit. Property acquired during marriage is common property. In 2004, the government established the Gender Equality council tasked to develop an action plan to achieve equality[36]. However, implementation of this plan has proceeded at a slow pace. In 2010, the Law on Gender Equality passed and there are gender equality councils at municipal level. In 2014, a further Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination was passed[37].

Enrolment in secondary and higher education is equal for men and women. Yet there is a significant gender pay gap. Until elections in 2020, Georgia’s parliament was 90% male, but a new quota system has ensured a minimum 20% representation (30 out of 150 seats). This will increase to 50 seats by 2028.

Despite equality in law, in practice women often lack the information to enforce their rights. A 2018 FAO report suggests that under traditional gender relations, women have little say in household economics and they are often placed as secondary heirs[38]. They have limited access to land ownership and are underrepresented in agricultural cooperatives, both as members and chairpersons. During land privatisation, plots were often put under the name of the head of the household, which in general is the male head. Lack of land ownership limits access for women to credit and rural financing.

Land governance innovations

USAID has supported land privatisation in Georgia since the 1990s, including assistance in drafting laws and setting up procedures for registration[39]. From 2001 to 2010 the two-phase Land Market Development Project helped to privatise agricultural land and develop land markets while supporting landowners. Several agencies, including Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union (EU), and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), have funded projects developing the land registry, including mapping, cadastral surveys, and the establishment of six registration centres. From 1995-2007, the German Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) implemented a Land Management in Georgia project, focusing on registration of land and apartments in urban areas. The work of GIZ focused in Tbilisi while KfW looked into other cities and rural areas (apart from the high mountainous regions)[40].

The transfer of agriculture away from state farms towards smallholder production has exposed smallholders now owning the land they farm, yet often lacking the necessary skills, knowledge, and market access to succeed in their own ventures. From 2014-2018, Oxfam, together with partners Action Against Hunger (ACF), the Rural Communities Development Agency (RCDA) and the Biological [organic] Farmers Association ELKANA, set up a project to increase agricultural productivity and support the competitiveness of smallholder farmers[41]. In particular, the project promoted agricultural cooperatives to help navigate emerging agricultural markets.

Timeline - milestones in land governance

1991 – Independence after the fall of the Soviet Union

Civil War and ethnopolitical conflicts soon followed lasting until 1993

1992 – Land Privatization Decree passed

In rural areas this focused on yards, gardens, orchards, and collective- (kolkhoz) and state-owned (sovkhoz) farms

1995 – National Constitution passed

Recognises the right to acquire, alienate and inherit property

1996 – Law on Agricultural Land Ownership passed

Allowed for the first time private rights for agricultural land

2004 – Formation of National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR)

Informed by 2004 Law on State Registry, NAPR handles land registration and the national cadastre

2008 – War with Russia over territorial dispute

This led to breakaway Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

2010 – Law on State Property

State land, by now mainly pastureland, was brought under the authority of the Agency for State Property, on the whole prohibiting privatisation

2018 – 1.5 million titles registered on a blockchain-based system

New shift from a public registry to one based on blockchain technology

2020 – New Forest Code

The code governs forest use, maintenance, and restoration, introducing multifunctional forest use and inclusive forms of management

Where to go next?

The author's suggestion for further reading 

To learn more about the privatisation of land in Georgia and the development of land markets, the author suggests a report by Alexander Gvaramia[42]. A recent report on pasture management gives a clear view of the legal complexities in governing pastoral land[43]. There is also a complementary collection of case studies from the same project, with a focus on land degradation[44]. An academic article by Alexi Gugushvili examines controversies around foreign land ownership and the response by civil society[45]. A recent publication by FIAN International looks at developments in digitised land administrations, comparing case studies from Georgia, Brazil, Indonesia, India, and Rwanda[46]. Finally, for a thorough assessment of gender relations in Georgia measured against agriculture and rural development, readers are encouraged to consult a 2018 report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations[47].