The state of Serbia manages slightly more than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land and leases it to farmers. There are no people interested in more than 120,000 hectares a year. These are pastures, meadows, fields of poorer quality, reeds and swamps. In order for that land not to remain unused, at the beginning of July, the Government passed the Decree on leasing for non-agricultural purposes – for example, for wind farms.
Agricultural land is not only quality arable land, but also tens of thousands of hectares of pastures, meadows, swamps and other low-quality land.
“Sabac has 1,133 hectares of state agricultural land. Over 200 hectares are certainly that scorched land that has not been used for years. This year, there are 353 hectares left that we conducted in the auction procedure, but no one responded, no one was interested,” said the member Milutin Stojinovic, in charge of agriculture in the City Council in Sabac.
State agricultural land that has been overgrown with weeds for years can now be used for other purposes. To build wind farms, install solar panels or for the exploitation of sand, gravel, stone. The state and municipalities would finally have income from its issuance. In the municipality of Alibunar of about 11,000 hectares, almost 2,000 have not been issued.
“We are the Kosava area, where it is known that it is suitable for wind farms, so that that branch could be invested in, to be further developed in the future,” states Zoran Stojiljkovic, President of the Commission for drafting the annual program for issuing state-owned agricultural land.
There are more than 28,000 hectares of state agricultural land on the territory of the city of Sombor. As much as 11 percent of that land is not interesting to farmers.
“About 1,700 hectares of meadows, 720 hectares of pastures, about 300 hectares of sixth and seventh class fields and about 183 hectares under reeds and swamps that remain unissued every year. Given the climate characteristics of the city, it would be best to use this land for construction of solar power plants, ie for the installation of solar panels,” says Vladimir Katanic, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection in Sombor.
The authorities explain that the Decree is only the basis for the use of state agricultural land.
All activities on it must be in accordance with applicable regulations – from environmental protection, mining and energy laws, to planning and construction rules. The lease is possible only through public bidding through a special application.
“Only a person who offers the highest price in this procedure, which is completely transparent and without the possibility of discretionary powers of any official in this procedure, can get the land. The starting price is five times the average lease price of state agricultural land in Serbia, which is around 1000 euros per hectare. When it comes to offering state land for the needs of exploitation, extraction of sand, gravel, stone, since these are the jobs where the biggest change in the land occurs, the starting price is thirty times the average lease price, which is 6000 euros,” explains Branko Lakic, Director of the Agricultural Land Administration.
The lease agreement can be concluded for a maximum of thirty years. The investor is obliged to prepare a project for restoring the land to its original condition with a cost projection. Thirty percent of the amount must be deposited immediately on the account of the Ministry, and the other 70 percent no later than five years before the expiration of the contract.
