Assessing Farm’s Performance by Farm Typology in Albania

Abstract

During the economic transition the agricultural sector of Albania has changed significantly. This process continues parallel with global trends of periods of relative consolidation. The diversity of farm types is increasing in terms of both their production structure and production organization. Even though the farms are still small in terms of the average size, there is an increasing tendency of fallow land, due to emigration and migration of the rural population. This is mainly due to traditions, because households composed of several families use greater parts of farm land for subsistence. Farm size and fragmentation -Albania has a very large number of farms per unit surface area compared to other countries in the EU. The size variation differs according to regions: In average it is as follows: -higher in in Kukes 0.62 ha / farm. According to official statistics the size of farm plots increased from 0.20 ha plots in 2000 to 0.26 ha in 2011; which is equal to nearly 30% in a decade. But the total average size of field plots, in general is still too small to justify the intensification of production by replacing hands with machines. The crop pattern and crop rotation schemes significantly affect farm efficiency; it is dominated by wheat, corn, hay, vegetables, beans, potatoes, and orchards; the latter has a significant trend in favour of nut plants; while the cultivation of cotton, sugar beet, tobacco, rice, rape-seed, etc. is almost at a standstill in Albania. These changes result from: -farmers' freedom in decision making according to market signals; -inefficient state support systems aiming at revitalising promising markets, which also led to: *a destruction of the processing industries for tobacco, cotton, rice, vegetable oils, sugar; *the loss of traditional export markets; *misallocation of financial resources. The transition from a central, planned economy to a market economy led to a general production fall in Albania, including agriculture. The specific contribution of agriculture to the GDP went down from 54.6 % in 1995 to 28.1 % in 2000, and has stabilised at this level, while the sector growth is estimated by about 3.6% per annum. Nearly 48.7% of the population in 2012 lives in rural areas where agriculture is the main source for both subsistence and income. In general, the cropping area for annual cultures decreased, except for wheat, vegetables and potatoes, while the area for forage as well as fruit trees increased. Actually, half of the cultivated cropping areas consist of fodder crops, which constitute also the high share of subsistence farming. In general, livestock is the most important agricultural sector in Albania. Its production value reached ALL 180,072 million, which equals to about Euro 1.3 bn. Animal products are a major component of self-consumption. Traditionally milk and its products in Albania are primary products also due to favourable natural conditions. Cattle are dominant in the low lands, while on the mountainous area sheep and goats. About 54.3% of the animal husbandry outpu...