Farm multi-activity : a transitional or a structural component of agricultural production in Albania | La pluriactivité dans l’exploitation agricole, transition ou composante durable de l’organisation de la production en Albanie

SAD CT1

National audience

إنجليزي. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that in certain countries farm multi-activity may be the dominant organizational model of agricultural production. The post-collectivist evolution of Albanian farms has been taken as an example. In the space of two years, from1993 to 1994, the agriculture sector was transformed from a totally collectivist into a totally private form. The collective land distribution created up to 420,000 individual micro farms, with an average area of 1.4 hectare. This agrarian reform undertaken to break down the socialist organisation of economy, had as its principal goal to ensure social peace in the countryside (in 1992 it represented 66 % of total population). About ten years now after the reform was applied, we have tried in this study to understand what the fundamental conditions for commercial farm development are in a post-collectivist economy. More particularly we are investigating how multi-activity is contributing to agricultural production organisation and to its market integration. To try to answer these questions we have conducted a socio-economic survey including 52 farms located in an important agricultural region of the country. The survey was completed in two different periods (1997 and 1999), with the same farmers and using an open questionnaire, concerning agricultural and non agricultural household activities. One of the main findings is essential: if an erosion of farm manpower can be noted, the proportion of multi-activity farms remains constant – there are more than 90 % of them. The positive evolution of the monetary agricultural incomes is faster than that of the non agricultural activities.

فرنسي. L’objectif de cet article est de montrer que la pluriactivité dans les exploitations agricoles peut être le modèle canonique d’organisation de la production agricole dans certains pays, l’Albanie étant prise comme exemple. La redistribution, en 1993, de l’ensemble des terres auparavant gérées par l’État, a entraîné la création de 420 000 exploitations de 1,4 hectare en moyenne. Le travail de recherche a reposé principalement sur une enquête socio-économique dans 52 exploitations, avec 2 passages à 2 ans d’écart dans une région agricole importante du pays. Un constat important s’impose : si une diminution de l’effectif des exploitations peut être observée, la proportion d’exploitations agricoles pluriactives reste constante – plus de 90 % des cas. Ces évolutions s’accompagnent d’un accroissement des revenus de l’activité agricole plus rapide que celui des revenus provenant des autres activités non agricoles et souvent temporaires, exercées principalement à l’étranger.