DOI: 10.1515/jwld-2017-0025 © Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Committee on Agronomic Sciences JOURNAL OF WATER AND LAND DEVELOPMENT Section of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering in Agriculture, 2017 2017, No. 33 (IV–VI): 107–114 © Institute of Technology and Life Sciences (ITP), 2017 PL ISSN 1429–7426 Available (PDF): http://www.itp.edu.pl/wydawnictwo/journal; http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jwld Received 18.03.2017 The size of an external patchwork of fields Reviewed 12.04.2017 Accepted 18.04.2017 A – study design as an indicator of urgency B – data collection C – statistical analysis D – data interpretation for land consolidation and exchange E – manuscript preparation F – literature search on the example of the commune of Lesko Przemysław LEŃ ABCDEF University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Faculty of Production Engineering, ul. Leszczyńskiego 7, 20-069 Lublin, Poland; e-mail: przemysł[email protected] For citation: Leń P. 2017. The size of an external patchwork of fields as an indicator of urgency for land consolidation and exchange on the example of the commune of Lesko. Journal of Water and Land Development. No. 33 p. 107– 114. DOI: 10.1515/jwld-2017-0025. Abstract The patchwork of plots is one of the major factors that have a negative impact on both the organization and the level of agricultural production. Excessive fragmentation reduces the intensity of the work and increases the cost of agricultural production, thereby generating lower and lower income. This paper presents data regarding the share of farmland belonging to non-resident owners in the commune of Lesko, which encompasses 15 cadastral communities. The data studied include the number of plots, their sur- face areas, and the number of owners. The study was conducted using checkerboard matrix tables which allow one to determine the share of farmland owned by local and out-of-village non-residents. An approach like this allows one to establish a program of exchange of land between these two groups of owners and to eliminate the problematic patchwork of land ownership through land exchange and consolidation. Key words: land exchange and consolidation, non-resident owners, patchwork of land ownership, rural areas INTRODUCTION in the northern part of the Lesko county (district leski) in the Podkarpackie Province. The area of land be- Different regions of Poland are characterized by longing to local and out-of-village non-resident own- different features which affect their economic devel- ers was determined for each village of the study area. opment. In the Podkarpackie Province (Voivodeship), As a last stage of the study, the degree of fragmenta- rural areas show a very low level of agricultural de- tion of farmland in the villages of the investigated velopment. Large fragmentation of land-holdings and community was established using checkerboard ma- the type of soil found in this area make land cultiva- trix tables. tion more costly than in other regions of the country. The whole situation is exacerbated by extensive scat- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PATCHWORK tering of individual holdings. To amend the spatial PATTERN OF LAND OWNERSHIP structure of rural areas, exchange and consolidation programs should be developed for highly fragmented Fragmentation of land is a problem in most coun- and scattered farmland, which would facilitate land tries. It adversely affects agriculture by reducing pro- cultivation in such areas, make it cheaper, and this duction efficiency and enforcing inefficient allocation way improve the quality of life of their inhabitants. of resources (labour and capital), which results in in- The aim of this article was to analyse the external creased costs and difficulties in modernizing agricul- patchwork of fields belonging to individual land hold- ture [DUDZIŃSKA 2012]. In land management, a pat- ings in the villages of the commune of Lesko, located tern of scattered parcels (cadastral plots) is referred to © Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in Warsaw, 2017; © Institute of Technology and Life Sciences (ITP) in Falenty, 2017 108 P. LEŃ as a patchwork (a checkerboard) of land ownership. 149.53 ha (26.6% of farmland in individual holdings) Both in Poland and in other countries, checkerboard- belongs to 154 owners from outside the study area ing (which gives rise to a patchwork pattern of land (26. 6% of all owners) [LEŃ et al. 2015a]. In the vil- ownership) is usually a result of long-term historical lage of Konieczkowa in Strzyżów county (district processes. The Polish countryside occupies more than strzyżowski), 222 out-of-village owners have 483 93% of the area of our country [BALAWEJDER et al. cadastral plots (15.8%) with an area of 195.20 hec- 2015]. About 3 million hectares of agricultural land in tares, which constitute 17.7% of the total area of the Poland are characterised by a faulty pattern of land village. In the village of Lutcza, in turn, 19.9% of all ownership [BALAWEJDER, NOGA 2016]. Factors that plots are owned by out-of-village non-resident owners have contributed to this situation include economic (1361 cadastral plots with an area of 531.93 ha, ie. and legal aspects of agriculture as well as socio- 18.8% of the total area of the village) [LEŃ et al. economic conditions [NOGA 1977; 1985a; 1985b]. 2016]. From the point of view of administrative boundaries, Nowadays, it is recommended that measures be there are two groups of patchwork patterns of land taken to eliminate both internal and external patch- ownership, an internal and an external patchwork. The works of farmland. Two such agricultural land man- concept of a patchwork of fields was introduced into agement measures are land consolidation and land Polish agricultural geodesy in 1907 by Kocent- exchange. -Zieliński, who defined it as an area of land belonging to one village, in which land owned by an individual MATERIALS AND METHODS farmer is not located in one piece next to the house, but is fragmented into a number of (usually narrow Data for the research in the form of a descriptive and long) parcels scattered over a large space and in- and graphical part of the excerpts from the land regis- termingled with parcels belonging to other owners ter were taken from the cadastral estate of the district [KOCENT-ZIELIŃSKI 1907]. office in Lesko. The analysis showed that out of Research on the external patchwork of farmland 10 228 plots belonging to individual holdings, 3 030 belonging to individual holdings in south-eastern Po- parcels, i.e., 29.6% of the total number of plots, were land (Podkarpackie Province) has revealed serious owned by out-of-village non-resident owners. These defects in the structure of land ownership in this re- plots occupied an area of 3 347.84 ha, i.e. 37.01% of gion. In the villages of Brzozów county (district the total area of farmland belonging to individual brzozowski), out-of-village non-resident owners are holdings. The plots were owned by 1 641 people who in the possession of 7 146.8 ha of land divided into lived both in the investigated area as well as beyond 23 394 cadastral plots. The plots are in the hands of its boundaries [LEŃ 2009; 2012]. 9 341 owners who live both in the investigated area, As seen in Table 1, the largest area of land in the vil- as well as beyond its boundaries [LEŃ 2009; 2012]. In lage of Lesko (270.8702 hectares, 61.3% of the total the village of Będziemyśl, located in Ropczyce- area of privately-owned farmland) is owned by out- -Sędziszów county (district ropczycko-sędziszowski), of-village non-residents. A high percentage of land land belonging to out-of-village non-resident owners belonging to out-of-village non-residents was record- occupies an area of 139.87 hectares, representing ed in the villages of Manasterzec (268.7669 ha, i.e. 26.67% of the total area of the village; this land is 52.2% of land in the private sector), Dziurdziów divided into 301 plots (20.01% of plots in the village) (191.2490 ha, 54.1%), and Huzele (145.0285 ha, [LEŃ et al. 2015b]. In the village of Olszanica, located 58.8%). The smallest contribution of land in the hands in Lesko county (district leski), 306 cadastral plots of out-of-village non-residents was found in Bachla- (24.3% of privately owned parcels) with an area of wa (34.0494 ha). Table 1. Data regarding land ownership by out-of-village non-residents in the commune of Lesko Area of pri- Farmland belonging to out-of-village non-resident owners Farmland belonging to out-of-village non-resident owners Number of Number vately owned residing in the area of the commune residing in Lesko county Name of village privately of farmland owners plots area owners plots area owned plots owners ha number % number % ha % number % number % ha % Bachlawa 129.6348 220 112 17 15.2 31 14.1 21.34 16.5 6 5.4 7 3.2 5.445 4.2 Bezmiechowa Dolna 240.8211 677 210 37 17.6 86 12.7 25.52 10.6 4 1.9 12 1.8 3.455 1.4 Bezmiechowa Górna 316.9037 394 159 40 25.2 67 17.0 54.08 17.1 7 4.4 17 4.3 10.700 3.4 Dziurdziów 353.5109 491 143 27 18.9 52 10.6 24.93 7.1 7 4.9 24 4.9 11.930 3.4 Glinne 162.8883 352 158 27 17.1 47 13.4 17.93 11.0 16 10.1 31 8.8 10.210 6.3 Hoczew 488.7827 828 355 35 9.9 48 5.8 24.78 5.1 22 6.2 41 5.0 28.560 5.8 Huzele 246.4818 828 337 76 22.6 129 15.6 86.15 35.0 8 2.4 14 1.7 3.156 1.3 Jankowce 388.1461 1 146 337 59 17.5 133 11.6 55.08 14.2 19 5.6 50 4.4 14.520 3.7 Lesko 441.5178 2 220 1 342 331 24.7 575 25.9 202.40 45.8 28 2.1 35 1.6 4.617 1.1 Łączki 83.6214 271 171 65 38.0 103 38.0 33.63 40.2 10 5.9 14 5.2 1.972 2.4 Łukawica 114.1087 527 166 25 15.1 40 7.6 11.57 10.1 5 3.0 12 2.3 4.600 4.0 Manasterzec 514.6333 438 256 56 21.9 80 18.3 67.35 13.1 5 2.0 11 2.5 11.840 2.3 Postołów 193.4532 284 133 15 11.3 48 16.9 55.92 28.9 4 3.0 4 1.4 2.132 1.1 Średnia Wieś 728.1847 1 323 517 39 7.5 93 7.0 51.46 7.1 16 3.1 24 1.8 10.490 1.4 Weremień 137.4525 229 100 15 15.0 26 11.4 14.04 10.2 3 3.0 5 2.2 1.470 1.1 Total 4 540.1410 10 228 4 496 864 19.2 1 558 15.2 746.10 16.4 160 3.6 301 2.9 125.100 2.8 Source: own study based on Register of Land and Buildings (EGiB).