Caucasus land: agricultural or political problem?

According to the 2010 population census, the rural population of the NCFD is 50.8%, which is much higher than in Russia generally. However, this is not the reason why land problems play a great role in the life of farming communities in the North Caucasus. The policies of tsarist and Soviet Russia created a mess in the administrative division of the North Caucasus. Reasons for the appearance of land conflicts and ways of settling them were discussed by experts of the Public Chamber.

Head of the Asia, Caucasus, Ural and Volga Region Research Center of the RAS, Alikber Alikberov

Any land conflict in the Caucasus turns to an inter-ethnic form. We should develop principles of settling these problems and consider them during administrative division. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the kazmalyars were liquidated. At the moment mountain households need even land. However, common rules should be developed and some administrative barriers should be eliminated. For settlement of the land problem more effective institutions of civil society should be attracted. Transparent and equal conditions for subjects of agricultural law and equal access to land resources should be provided. Only in this case is distribution of labor force  possible.

Journalist, Maxim Shevchenko

Land has been, is and will be the main asset, which comes with a cost, for centuries. Land is the most important resource and the reason for many conflicts all around the world. In the North Caucasus, Kuban and Rostov regions most of resources belong to farming households. The land problem includes not only demarcation. Distribution of such natural resources as water reservoirs depends on it as well. So the land problem, drainage issues and grazing lands often become the centers of bloody conflicts.

Senior scientific worker of the Cultural Studies Institute, Nina Mironova

Land problems in Karachay-Cherkessia are less acute than in other regions of the North Caucasus. The reason is that land was divided according to shares. In Dagestan only the land of the Gergebil region was divided according to shares. One of the main problems of the Caucasus is ineffective use of agricultural land. Laws on registered stock lands, adopted in Dagestan in 1996 and Kabardino-Balkaria in 2010, have one aim – keeping these lands under government control. The people who live on these territories lose a lot due to such laws, as they do not regulate the principles of using these lands. At the same time, such laws cause privatization and use of the lands for other purposes.