Agricultural land prices rise

The changes in infrastructure have made land prices in Albania more and more expensive according to the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), quoted by the Italian News Agency ANSA and the Albanian press (Gazeta Shqiptare, 1.07.2009).
Prices of agricultural land have risen over 100 Euros per square meter as the goal in buying them is not any more fruit and vegetable cultivation but rather construction of homes and facilities.
According to the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), which has a representative office in Tirana, the pressure is higher in the commune of Ish쭠and in the municipality of Durr쳬 which are expected to see further increases.
Agricultural land in Albania is scarce, since three fourths of the country are mountainous and rocky. According to earlier discussions Tirana Times has had with agro-business experts Saba Sena and Pirro Rrapushi, the problems of legal ownership of the land and the actual small-parcel tenure of arable land as well as land sales to non-agricultural uses, make the development of Albanian agro-businesses very difficult to sustain.