A multi-criteria model for land valuation in the land consolidation
Introduction
With its favorable climate and geographical conditions, Turkey is one of the leading countries in the world in the field of agriculture and food. Its agricultural lands cover 35.89 % of the country’s surface area (Uyan, 2016; Uyan et al., 2015). There are almost four million agricultural holdings in Turkey. However, in the vast majority of agricultural holdings, plots are small, scattered, irregular in shape and lacking in any transport network (Demetriou et al., 2012; Kirmikil and Arici, 2013). These conditions cause farming families to grow products on increasingly small and scattered parcels of land with decreasing yields (Arıcı and Akkaya Aslan, 2014; Yağanoğlu et al., 2000). In 1950, the average size of a farm in Turkey was 10 ha. In 1980 it was 6.8 ha, in 1990 it was 5.9 ha, and in 2001 it had increased by a small amount and it was 6.1 ha with the starting of land consolidation works (Cay et al., 2010; Gun, 2003; Uyan, 2016). However, this value is still lag behind the average agricultural holding size of European countries. This illustrates how rapidly the fragmentation of agricultural land in Turkey has occurred.
The fragmentation of agricultural land is one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable agriculture and rational agricultural development in Turkey. Conditions associated with this problem include the small size and irregular shape of parcels, the distance between parcels and the owner’s farmstead, and the existence of many boundary lines (Demetriou et al., 2012; Tezcan et al., 2018a). This pattern hinders mechanization and causes inefficient production. The cost to alleviate those adverse effects has resulted in a reduction in farmers’ net incomes (Cay and Uyan, 2013; de Lisle and de, 1982; Demetriou et al., 2012; King and Burton, 1982; Latruffe and Piet, 2014). The primary cause of land fragmentation has been population pressure on agricultural land. Turkey loses $10 billion annually because of this fragmentation (Uyan, 2016; Uyan et al., 2015). Land consolidation (LC) is considered to be the most effective approach for solving land fragmentation (Akkaya Aslan et al., 2018; Asiama et al., 2017; Yomralioglu et al., 2007).
Land consolidation involves environmental and cultural protections, conservation of areas having high natural value, recreation, village renewal, regional projects, and other measures to benefit the living and working conditions of rural residents. LC can also change the land tenure structure and provide necessary infrastructure such as roads and irrigation networks (Akkaya Aslan et al., 2018; Demetriou, 2016; Demetriou et al., 2012; Muchová et al., 2018; Sklenicka, 2006; Thomas, 2006). Land consolidation includes all the procedures for exchanging, re-arranging and expanding farmland parcels to increase farm productivity (Asiama et al., 2017).
The fundamental principle behind the LC ensures that, after consolidation, each landowner shall have a property with an aggregate value that is the same (after deducting the landowners’ land contribution for infrastructure) as the value of the property before consolidation (Demetriou, 2016; Muchová et al., 2018). To achieve this, land valuation should be done in a detailed manner (Tezcan et al., 2018a). Land valuation is a comprehensive appraisal process intended to either assign the agronomic value based on soil quality or land productivity (using a relative dimensionless score) to all parcels of the consolidated area and all of their contents (i.e. trees, wells, buildings, etc.) (Demetriou, 2016).
Clark (1973) and Tezcan et al. (2018a) suggest that fourteen land valuation criteria should be used to determine agricultural land value. On the other hand, Wyatt (1996) divided the land valuation criteria into four groups: physical attributes, legal factors, locational characteristics, and economic conditions. Branković et al. (2015) observed that land value classification in Serbia is based on soil fertility, climate conditions, and economic factors. Buday et al. (2018) argues that it is necessary to objectively determine land prices and, in particular, take into account other factors that greatly influence the price of land. Other factors that affect the land value are parcel location, anthropogenic factors such as national parks, protected landscape areas, and zones for water resources protection and farming techniques. Many researchers and organizations from different countries have conducted various studies to determine the land value in detail (Asiama et al., 2018; Demetriou, 2018; FAO, 2003; Kucukmehmetoglu and Geymen, 2016; Scarelli and Venzi, 2004). Muchová et al. (2018) proposed that it is necessary for a new system of the land valuation that takes into account properly/correctly selected factors, whose values or quality strongly influence the given area.
The parcel index method is used to determine the agricultural value of parcels in the land consolidation studies in Turkey. In this method, land value is determined according to three criteria: soil index, productivity score, and location index (Tezcan et al., 2018a). In its calculations, the proportional amount of the soil index, productivity score, and location index are 70 %, 10 %, and 20 %, respectively. However, there is no explanation of how those proportions were determined. This aspect of the land valuation process needs to be further developed. In light of the studies cited above, there is no available method for land valuation in the Turkish land consolidation process. Because fragmented parcels are eventually reallocated, agricultural land values should be determined in a precise, fair, and detailed manner. Otherwise, there is the potential for doubt and resistance among the landowners and possible delay of the project.
Our study proposes a new framework and method for assessing the observable and measurable soil characteristics together that will meet international criteria. The aim of the study is to develop a new model that includes fourteen land valuation criteria and suitable for each condition, location, and project. We compared our proposed method with that used by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (SHW). To determine the parcel index which means the agricultural land value, our approach includes international criteria which are soil quality, regional, spatial, physical, and socio-economic characteristics that provide more accurate and detailed results. In addition, we developed three new models by changing the proportions of the parameters in the equation to determine the most accurate, fair, and appropriate process.
Section snippets
The land consolidation area
The area proposed for land consolidation is located within the Mediterranean basin in Antalya, Turkey (Fig. 1). The area is 12,404 ha in size and includes 28 villages (Sert et al., 2011). Within the area, Solak village was chosen for our case study and represented the total area proposed for land consolidation (Fig. 2). Solak village is located approximately 20 km east of the Antalya city center with an average elevation of 16.1 m above sea level.
The village has a total area of 1,540 ha. Within
Results and discussion
One of the most critical tasks in the land consolidation process is to adhere to the principle that each landowner should receive, after land consolidation, land with approximately the same value as that of the original holding before consolidation (Demetriou, 2014). This outcome is vital to ensure equality among the participants. Because parcels are relocated after land consolidation, it is important to determine land value precisely and fairly (Tezcan et al., 2018a). In our study, the value
Conclusions
The purpose of our study was to develop a new approach for land valuation associated with land consolidation that can overcome the shortcomings and troublesome aspects of current methods.
Land valuation is one of the most important steps in the LC process. The total amount of land given to landowners after LC is determined according to the value of each parcel. Therefore, the method used to determine the land value should be precise and fair. In Turkey, the method for valuation and land
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ahmet Tezcan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Visualization. Kenan Büyüktaş: Resources, Writing - review & editing, Supervision. Şerife Tülin Akkaya Aslan: Resources, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgments
The first author would like to thank The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey for the scholarship under the 2214-A program. This work was also supported by the Akdeniz University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit [grant numbers FBA-2017-2279, 2017]. Finally, the authors thank the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, 13th Regional Directorate for their support in our study.
References (45)
- et al.
Reallocation model for land consolidation based on landowners’ requests
Land Use Policy
(2018) - et al.
Land consolidation on Ghana’s rural customary lands: drawing from The Dutch, Lithuanian and Rwandan experiences
J. Rural Stud.
(2017) Socioeconomic determinants of farmland value in India
Land Use Policy
(2014)- et al.
Evaluation of reallocation criteria in land consolidation studies using the Analytic Hierarchy process (AHP)
Land Use Policy
(2013) - et al.
Effects of different land reallocation models on the success of land consolidation projects: social and economic approaches
Land Use Policy
(2010) - et al.
Analysis determinants of agricultural land values in Argentina
Ecol. Econ.
(2015) - et al.
Geographical database for object-oriented land division modelling in Turkey
Land Use Policy
(2017) The assessment of land valuation in land consolidation schemes: the need for a new land valuation framework
Land Use Policy
(2016)Automating the land valuation process carried out in land consolidation schemes
Land Use Policy
(2018)- et al.
Land consolidation in Cyprus: why is an integrated planning and decision support system required?
Land Use Policy
(2012)
A hedonic urban land price index
Land Use Policy
Optimization models for urban land readjustment practices in Turkey
Habitat Int.
Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany
France. Agric. Syst.
Applying evaluation criteria for the land consolidation effect to three contrasting study areas in the Czech Republic
Land Use Policy
Factors affecting farmland prices in the Czech Republic
Land Use Policy
Determination of agricultural soil index using geostatistical analysis and GIS on land consolidation projects: a case study in Konya/Turkey
Comput. Electron. Agric.
Comparison of designed different land reallocation models in land consolidation: a case study in Konya/Turkey
Comput. Electron. Agric.
The importance of creating new inheritance policies and laws that reduce agricultural land fragmentation and its negative impacts in Turkey
Land Use Policy
Personal, physical and socioeconomic factors affecting farmers’ adoption of land consolidation
Span. J. Agric. Res.
Land Consolidation Planning and Projecting
Land valuation in support of responsible land consolidation on Ghana’s rural customary lands
Surv. Rev.
Land consolidation appraisal of agricultural land in the GIS environment
Geod. Vestn.
Cited by (27)
Land valuation with Best Worst Method in land consolidation projects
2022, Land Use PolicyCitation Excerpt :Ertunc et al., (2022) presented the results of the analysis of the legal and practical aspects of the application of land value maps for land consolidation in four countries (Slovakia, Croatia, Poland and Turkey). Many researchers think that it is necessary to propose a new land valuation system that takes into account appropriately/correctly selected factors that strongly affect the land value or quality of a particular area (Buday, 2012; Tomić et al., 2016; Muchová et al., 2018, Demetriou, 2018; Asiama et al., 2018; Tezcan et al., 2020; Ertunç et al., 2021b). There are many different factors that affect the land value in the process of determining the value of the land.
Social learning and dynamics of farmers’ perception towards hollowed village consolidation
2022, Habitat InternationalCitation Excerpt :Social learning can result from changes in the environment or through human interaction. However, current studies about land consolidation or HVC have mainly focused on pushing up consolidation effectiveness and exploring consolidation models theoretically (Huang, Lee, & Xu, 2020; Mucan & Asian, 2020; Tezcan, Buyuktas, & Aslan, 2020; Uyan, Cay, Inceyol, & Hakli, 2015). They stressed the measurement of consolidation potential geographically (Cay & Uyan, 2013; Colombo & Manuel, 2019; He et al., 2020; Jin, Shao, et al., 2017; Kirmikil, 2019), socially (Luo & Timothy, 2017; Yang, Wang, Yao, & Chai, 2020), economically (Allahyari, Damalas, Masouleh, & Ghorbani, 2018; Hong et al., 2020; Janus & Markuszewska, 2019; Jiang, Zhang, et al., 2017), spatially (Demetriou, 2017; Janus & Taszakowski, 2018; Strek & Noga, 2019; Wojcik-Len, Postek, Strek, & Len, 2020) and ecologically (Abubakari, van der Molen, Bennett, & Kuusaana, 2016; Guo, Fang, Jin, & Zhou, 2020; Shan et al., 2019; Wang, Yan, Guo, Li, & Sun, 2015), primarily from a static point of view.
Towards a full automation of land consolidation projects: Fast land partitioning algorithm using the land value map
2022, Land Use PolicyCitation Excerpt :The key factors most often include: the quality of land, taking into account distance zones from buildings, potential land use in planning documents or resulting from local legal regulations, and access to roads or irrigation facilities. Despite the great diversity of potential land consolidation principles for consolidation projects, many attempts have been made to develop algorithms and ready-made solutions that automate this process or propose new approaches to its implementation (Branković et al., 2015; Uyan, 2016; Demetriou, 2017, 2018; Tezcan et al., 2020). One of the larger groups of proposed algorithms supporting the land consolidation process are the algorithms and approaches for land reallocation (Kik, 1980; Lemmen and Sonnenberg, 1986, Cay et al., 2010, Uyan et al., 2015).
Spatial–temporal characteristics and influencing factors of farmland expansion in different agricultural regions of Heilongjiang Province, China
2022, Land Use PolicyCitation Excerpt :The primary goal of farmland expansion is to increase the food yield. Land consolidation, which includes inefficient land development, reuse of abandoned farmland, and ecological restoration of contaminated land, is an important way to improve food yield based on the concept that the area of farmland can’t be broken through (Hong et al., 2020; Tezcan et al., 2020). Shifting food production from farmland expansion to efficient farmland usage is a good idea to maintain production.
A clustering-based approach to land valuation in land consolidation projects
2021, Land Use PolicyCitation Excerpt :In a different study, Demetriou (2018) proposed an automatic land valuation model (AVM) by combining the linear-nonlinear and artificial neural network (ANN) model with GIS. Tezcan et al. (2020) suggested a multi-criteria model for land valuation in land consolidation. Land consolidation projects in Turkey are carried out according to two different laws.
A New Method for Assessing Land Consolidation Urgency, including Market Value
2024, Sustainability (Switzerland)