Access to agricultural land – a natural resource used as a means of production in agriculture and the basis of life and activity of the peoples living on this land

In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, citizens and their associations have the right to own land. The right of private ownership is protected by law, and land and other natural resources are used and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis for the life and activities of the peoples living in the relevant territory. Economic activity aimed at monopolization and unfair competition is not permitted. The issues of ownership, use and tenure of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources are under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation. One of the main principles of land legislation established by the Land Code of the Russian Federation is a differentiated approach to establishing the legal regime of lands, according to which, when determining the legal regime, natural, social, economic and other factors must be taken into account ensuring access to land for citizens and legal entities. Until now, as of 01.01.2023, only 27.44% of the 379.1 million hectares of agricultural land (104.1 million hectares) are privately owned, and citizens’ land shares account for 72.4% of them (75.4 million hectares); 6.22% (23.6 million hectares) are owned by legal entities, which land shares account for 8.44% (1.99 million hectares); in total, 77.36 million hectares of land shares are in private ownership, or 60.6% of the 127.6 million hectares of agricultural land plots. In 2022, agricultural organizations used 407,739.4 thousand hectares (78.6%) for agricultural production, while citizens used 111,068.1 thousand hectares (21.4%). Agricultural organizations used land plots in private ownership on an area of 75.8 million hectares (18.6%) (including lands in common shared ownership of 55.5 million hectares (73.1% of them); the state and municipal lands accounted for 324.3 million hectares (79.5%); the ownership of other persons had only 7.6 million hectares (1.9%), of which 5.2 million hectares (67.8%) belonged to the owners of land shares. The state continues to be the owner with an excess amount of agricultural land. The undeveloped, untransformed into land plots, land-share quasi-ownership with low capitalization and limited rights to use shared land ownership has led for three decades to confusion in land relations, corruption and mass land disputes, loss of land ownership, irresponsible land use and abandonment of productive agricultural land. This article discusses the necessary changes in the organization of agricultural land use.