Farmers Are Not to Blame for JLRS Not Announcing Tenders

A legal vacuum is emerging, and it is likely to expand further, due to the fact that some users’ lease agreements for state agricultural land are expiring, while local and regional self-government units (JLRS) are often significantly delayed in announcing new tenders for land allocation. The question is who will cultivate the land until JLRS announces such tenders. Judging by the information reaching the public – no one!

Namely, recently, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK) Mladen Jakopović stated at a press conference that farmers who continue to use state agricultural land even after their lease agreements have expired are increasingly being monitored by agricultural inspectors, who are imposing fines on them.

They do this because the Law on Agricultural Land explicitly states that the use of state agricultural land without a valid legal basis is not permitted. On the other hand, as he reminded (and what we have known for years), JLRS do not announce tenders because they either have no one to do it professionally or it is a matter of negligence. Until now, JLRS have often bridged such a situation by signing short-term contracts with producers who used the land or issuing so-called confirmations. However, the validity of these documents has expired, and the holders no longer have a legal basis for using the land.

Loss of Time

In this issue of Lider, there is a text by our expert in agriculture and the food industry, Zvjezdana Blažić, who notes that the announcement of tenders for the lease of state agricultural land is expected in a large number of municipalities and cities across Croatia, starting at the beginning of next year. However, judging by past practices, it is questionable whether these tenders will be announced on time. Because, as Blažić writes, ‘our (consulting company Smarter, ed.) estimate is that a considerable amount of time will need to pass from the announcement of individual tenders to carry out the entire complicated procedure.’

This, in turn, means that agricultural inspectors may have even more work starting next year. At the same time, we should not immediately unleash fire on them because inspectors are obliged to work according to the letter of the law. Here, a problem arises that would not exist if the legal provisions regarding the allocation of state agricultural land were different. For example, during the time of Minister Tihomir Jakovina, the authority to make decisions on land allocation was transferred to the state, and after his departure, it was returned to JLRS, albeit with the state’s approval.

Perhaps the option of transferring authority back to the state should be considered, although it already seems like we are wandering. But this has actually looked like this for thirty years.

Pssst, There Is Another Option

Let’s return to the problem of what to do with the land after the lessee’s contract expires. This should be regulated, even through urgent amendments to the Law on Agricultural Land, by allowing existing lessees to continue cultivating the land until a contract is signed after the completion of the announced tender, either with them or with another, the one who will be the best bidder.

Namely, if we leave it as it is now, and inspectors roam around Beautiful Croatia, many who continue to cultivate the land (and are largely forced to do so to prevent production from suffering) will be penalized. Of course, there is another option that no one responsible will publicly support – that inspectors are not sent to those areas where lease agreements have expired, or that it is tacitly allowed for existing users to use it until the completion of the tender and the signing of new contracts, whoever that may be. Because, not only is it detrimental for the farmer to stop production due to the resulting legal vacuum, but it is also harmful for agricultural land to remain uncultivated.

After all, we recently wrote in ‘Pravda’ about the problem of neglecting horses in Lika for which owners receive incentives, so it would be better for inspectors to visit the idlers, lazybones, and good-for-nothings there who still dare to threaten others, rather than workers. Of course, such a solution arises only in this situation because the state and JLRS are to blame for the law not being enforced (tenders are not announced), why should producers be blamed for that?!

POST SCRIPTUM

How complicated it is for the farmer himself to compete for a piece of state land is shown by Zvjezdana Blažić in the aforementioned text. Namely, Blažić writes that along with the lease offer, producers are required to submit a business program that must be made for all cadastral parcels or production-technological units. Since our cadastral parcels are very small and fragmented, it can easily happen that one farmer has to create dozens of business programs for the same production.