After the private ownership of land was restored and a part of land reclamation structures was given to land owners, the intensity of land use has changed. In the areas of Lithuania, which are less favoured for agriculture, the land is not intensely used. Further financing of land reclamation of such areas from the state budget grants is economically inefficient as the return of relatively high investments is very low. With the changing of land reclamation infrastructure it is necessary to prepare measures which would facilitate rational, regional agricultural specialization corresponding to natural conditions. The routine procedure of financing the land reclamation has to be changed as well. The paper analyses the changes in usage of drained land areas and financing of the land reclamation sector in Lithuania during the last decade (1997-2007). The purpose of this research is to establish the criteria of the economical efficiency of drainage systems and to propose methods how to change the financing of state-owned land reclamation infrastructure. On the grounds of the carried out situation analysis, a methodology of distributing state grants for land reclamation to municipality budgets are presented. To have an efficient use of the state budget funds, the operation and maintenance of shared land reclamation systems have to be carried out according to the maintenance plans approved by municipalities, which would provide for arrangements and compensations due to conflict of interests arising when land plots are used in different ways. Possible ecological measures that could be applied when carrying out repair and reconstruction of drainage systems are discussed.

According to EU Water Framework Directive, anew model of land reclamation management and financing will be developed. Taking into consideration the high vale of state investment required to ensure a steady work of land reclamation systems, it is important to reject the funds allocated on an equality principles and to give preference to the regions where the maintenance, rehabilitation and repair of these structures is more effective. The discussion concerning the allocation of state funds is elaborated in this paper. On the basis of statistical analysis, natural and economical regional differences were evaluated. Four scenarios of the allocation of special subsidies from state budget are submitted for approval. When modelling the financing results based on the regional distribution methodology, the changes in base financing indices are under discussion.

Agricultural development based on the laws of market economy enhances a change in the point of view on land as real property and search for optimal variants of its possible usage. As a large part of all agricultural land has been drained, efficient functioning of water regime regulation means is one of the essential factors determining the possibilities of land use as well as its value. Land areas where land reclamation structures are in good condition and do not needs to be repaired or reconstructed will always be of higher demand under the conditions of market economy. Present prices of agricultural land do not show the value of land reclamation systems. Therefore a complex land assessment is needed in respect of the present condition of land reclamation structures, its age and probabilities of failures.

Land reclamation is very important in Lithuania: under the climatic conditions of our country it is necessary to drain land. Today approximately 90% of the whole agricultural production are grown in drained land. In this article financial problems of land reclamation works are analysed. Not taking into account our country's financial abilities, the maintenance of land reclamation systems must be done properly, and in time - only then, we will be able to guarantee the best long-lasting functioning of drainage systems, and in the future there will be no greater and it will be unnecessary to do expensive preliminary reconstructions works. The maintenance works of drainage systems may be full-filled properly and in time when increasing the financing for land reclamation works up to the necessary level (any subsidies resources and payments are possible, as well as different labour variants and other alternatives) or reducing the maintained drained areas, so that we could throughly keep on eye on land reclamation systems.