Hrvatske vode, Vol. 32 No. 130, 2024.
Review article
Use, ownership and suitability of agricultural land for cultivation in the Republic of Croatia based on 2020 status
Stjepan Husnjak
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Vladimir Kušan
; Oikon d.o.o. – Institut za primijenjenu ekologiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Davor Romić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Ivona Žiža
; Oikon d.o.o. – Institut za primijenjenu ekologiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Mario Sraka
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Mario Njavro
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Vesna Očić
; Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Agronomski fakultet, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
In addition to other activities, the future economic development of the Republic of Croatia can also be based on agriculture development, considering the insufficiently utilised agro-ecological potentials, which can be particularly contributed to by putting unused agricultural land into use. The aim of this paper is to present the latest available data from 2020 related to the total area of agricultural land and the area of used and unused agricultural land, while taking into account land ownership, suitability for agriculture and Croatian agricultural regions. The total area of forest land equals 2,630,742 ha (46.5%), whereas the total area of agricultural land amounts to 2,582,823 ha (45.5%). Of the total area of agricultural land, only 1,712,197 ha (66.3%) is in use, while 870,626 ha (33.7%) is unused. The largest part of both used (82.6%) and unused agricultural land (80.2%) is privately owned, 10.0% and 17.2% of the used and unused land is owned by the state, respectively, while the smallest amount of land is in mixed ownership (7.4% and 2.6%, respectively). The largest part i.e. 36% of the used agricultural land is located in areas that are highly suitable or moderately suitable for cultivation (classes S-1 and S-2), 29.7% is marginally suitable (class S-3), 18.9% is currently not suitable (class N-1), while 15.4% is permanently not suitable for cultivation (class N-2). Regarding unused agricultural land, the highest proportion i.e. 42.2% is permanently not suitable for cultivation (class N-2), 27.2% is marginally suitable (class S-3), 21.2% is highly suitable and moderately suitable (classes S-1 and S-2), while 9.4% is currently not suitable (class N-1). The roughly estimated potential value of agricultural production that can be achieved on unused agricultural land amounts to about € 488 million/year. The multiplier effect is significantly higher and amounts to € 803 million/year. Conducted research confirms the existence of valuable resources of agricultural land that is unused for agricultural purposes.
Keywords
land; use; ownership; suitability; regions; revenue; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
334257
URI
Publication date:
30.1.2025.
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