Slovakia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development wants the Parliament to adopt a law that would prevent the speculative buying of farmland. This follows from the legislative intent of a draft bill on acquisitions of ownership of agricultural land, which the department submitted for interdepartmental review.
With this legislation, the Agriculture Ministry wants to ensure that land designated for agricultural purposes is only bought by professionally qualified entities that are actively devoted to agriculture. According to the Agriculture Ministry, experience with the sale of agricultural land in Slovakia in recent years suggests that its protection against unauthorized reclassification for non-agricultural use is not sufficient. The department also points to findings that with 39.82 percent of land purchased it was impossible to identify the buyer and for what purpose they want to use the land. It therefore cannot be ruled out that these may be speculative land purchased and that later the land be used for other than agricultural purposes. “This is also implied by the fact that about 50,000 to 60,000 hectares of agricultural land was purchased by law offices and real estate agents for their clients, individuals and entities in the Slovak Republic that are not active in agricultural business,” the material accompanying the draft bill states.
