Land reform and rural well being in Georgia: 1996-2003

Land reform was launched in Georgia in 1992, about a year after the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union. While an impressive land individualization process has been in effect since then, the pace and the performance of this process are far from satisfactory. This is due to a combination of institutional and economic constraints. We use comparable survey data from 1996 and 2003 and show that the land reform has been progressing mainly through land leasing. This allows successful farm household to expand their farming operation and improve their well-being. Land documentation doesn't seem to yield the expected results, and the blame may be on less than sufficient labor and credit opportunities. We conclude that there is scope for continuing the process of land reform in Georgia, but this has to be accompanied by measures to develop rural credit and labor markets.