Virgin land taken away: how to use agricultural land for tourism purposes
We need to adjust the laws that regulate the possibility of building facilities for receiving tourists on agricultural lands, said Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Victoria Abramchenko. According to her, this hinders the development of both rural and wine tourism, which needs facilities for receiving guests and conducting tastings. And the rest of the representatives of the tourism industry would very much like to be able to legally build on agricultural land, but so far the transfer of land to another type of permitted use is proving very difficult. Izvestia figured out how to divide the land between agriculture and tourism.
Why is there a discussion about rural land
Victoria Abramchenko made her statement following a meeting on the wine and viticulture industries of the Rostov region.
"There are two points of view. We can quickly transfer these lands to other categories, but winegrowers and winemakers are talking about something else: give us the right to place tasting sites on our lands. And, of course, a balance is needed here, since farmland is a means of production in agriculture," said the deputy, who previously oversaw agricultural issues in the government as deputy prime minister, and is now responsible for tourism and land relations in the State Duma.
Now, Victoria Abramchenko noted, lands suitable for growing grapes are protected by law, and buildings cannot be built on them. At the same time, she pointed out the possibility of discussing the allocation of territories within these lands that are unsuitable for viticulture in order to place such facilities there.
However, the issue of placing tourist sites on agricultural lands concerns not only winegrowers. Recently, the professional community of glamping owners asked for a land amnesty for those facilities that have already been erected in fields and arable land.
"There is a lot of agricultural land in Russia that is suitable for recreational activities," Zhanna Kira, president of the Glamping Association, told Izvestia. — This is an agricultural village on the banks of rivers, lakes, seas, with a good forest and so on. It is unsuitable for agricultural activities, but it is suitable for tourism activities. Accordingly, entrepreneurs take this land and try to transfer it to another type of permitted use — they build facilities on it.
Victoria Abramchenko, in a comment to Izvestia, stressed that the lack of accommodation and other amenities for tourists is a real problem for both farmers and winemakers. This generally slows down the development of rural tourism.
— But here it is important not to allow agricultural lands to be built up with cottage settlements or hotel complexes. We need to find a middle ground between the development of tourism and the preservation of our fertile lands," she stressed.
Currently, she recalled, the construction of capital facilities on agricultural land is allowed only in order to produce, store and process agricultural products. In other cases, there are mechanisms for transferring agricultural land to other categories. Therefore, there was a discussion about how to develop tourism in rural areas.
What is the problem with transferring land to another category?
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with members of Delovaya Rossiya, instructed to speed up the transfer of land from the agricultural category to recreational use for tourist services.
However, the issue remains controversial. Victoria Abramchenko calls the land category change a "slippery slope."
— Today the farmer decided to engage in agrotourism, and tomorrow he changed his mind, but the land has already been transferred. And there are no guarantees that it will be used for its intended purpose," the Izvestia interlocutor emphasized. — In addition, there will be wedges and inclusions. It was precisely these disadvantages of land use that had to be dealt with after the liquidation of collective farms and state farms. Then there were patchwork quilts of lands with different statuses where there used to be single fields.
She calls the land transfer procedure "one of the most corrupt mechanisms."
Zhanna Kira notes that local authorities are not currently transferring agricultural land to recreational use in all regions.
"And entrepreneurs themselves have not always seen the difference between these types of permitted uses," she said. — We thought: now I will put a beehive on agricultural land and continue to work with tourists. But now everyone understands that you can't do that. We are officially telling the market about this: neither a beehive nor a lavender field will save the situation, a transfer to another category is absolutely necessary to continue working.
Georgy Mokhov, Vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), founder of the Persona Grata law agency, noted that the process of transferring agricultural land to another category is still becoming more complicated.
"A law has recently been passed that prescribes mandatory approval of the transfer, meaning local authorities are now unable to make such a decision on their own," he told Izvestia. — At the same time, the concept of unsuitable land is being introduced, which cannot be used for agricultural purposes.
Georgy Mokhov notes that now, according to the law "On peasant (farm) economy," temporary accommodation of tourists in residential buildings is allowed, which are already part of the property of the farm. This has been possible since June last year, when the amendment was adopted in the interests of rural tourism development.
— Different kinds of campsites and glamping sites, thoughtlessly built on agricultural land, have a different situation: they have not been able to transfer land to another category for years, and these projects have to be closed, and many of them are built on subsidies and are subject to a refund to the budget, — the expert noted. — Therefore, it is necessary to carefully approach the choice of land plots and understand that for most regions agriculture is a priority, and in some regions transfer to recreation is generally prohibited.
Zhanna Kira insists that an amnesty is needed for those glamping sites that are already located on agricultural land, as it was done in Altai, otherwise a huge number of sites across the country will have to be closed.
Marina Nenarokova, a lawyer and founder of the Natural Code company, notes that there is now a situation where rural areas and rural tourism need to be developed, but anyone can occupy land for this and build recreational facilities there. After that, the owners begin to deal with the land transfer procedure, which can take several years. According to her, the record time was eight years.
— And now the state has begun to tighten control. For a farmer who has legally engaged in rural tourism to be able to place catering facilities, tasting rooms or even a toilet, it takes a very long time to coordinate everything and transfer land from one category to another," she told Izvestia. — The idea of giving unsuitable land for tourist sites rests on the fact that there are no objective ways to justify which territory can be considered unsuitable. Therefore, we need an up-to-date mechanism that will enable legal organizers of rural tourism to legally introduce an additional type of activity, providing comfort for the guest, accommodation, and infrastructure.
Christopher Konstantinidi, First Vice-president of the National Union of the Hospitality Industry, director of the International Analytical Center for Sustainable Tourism Development of the RUDN University, expert of the Russian Academy of Sciences, emphasizes that theoretically it is even possible to build facilities, but it is unclear how to organize economic or entrepreneurial activities in these facilities to provide hotel services.
"Based on the current legislation, this is hardly possible at all," the Izvestia interlocutor notes. — Everyone solves this problem as best they can, but in most cases the solution contradicts the current legislation, does not take into account the requirements for the quality of hotel services and the safety of tourists. One of the most common schemes is the construction of buildings to accommodate agricultural staff, and in fact tourists are accommodated there at the peril and risk of the agricultural producer.
Tasting rooms, which the expert calls one of the key components of tourism products for wineries and other agrotouristic enterprises, are now, as a rule, being moved outside agricultural lands. However, this is not convenient for all farms.
The expert emphasizes that this is a systemic problem that needs to be solved comprehensively, linking the norms of several laws at once.
— The organization of excursions to vineyards, orchards and fields of agricultural producers is also problematic, — said Christopher Konstantinidi. — Firstly, agrotourism facilities need to obtain a license for trucking, and secondly, to have an accredited tour guide on staff. All this requires significant costs, which, in the case of a trucking license, are definitely not justified, since transportation takes place on the territory of the farm.
What are the ways out of the situation?
Victoria Abramchenko believes that it is enough "to allow the construction of the infrastructure necessary for rural tourism and the development of winemaking on the lands already designated for industrial development." That is, where there are already buildings for the production, storage and processing of agricultural products. This should be done "directly in the law, regulating the requirements for such facilities." In addition, she calls for additional "giving the regions the right to determine a list of municipalities where such construction is possible."
Marina Nenarokova suggests developing a mechanism to determine the permissible part of the territory that can be allocated for an additional type of activity. And then, for example, to grant the organization a conditionally permitted type of use with the definition of subjects who have the right to do so, and a planning horizon of 20-30 years.
— It is also necessary to simplify the procedure for making changes to the master plans, making it possible to transfer unsuitable and uninteresting land for agriculture to another permitted type of use, — said Marina Nenarokova. — But there must be a justification that they are unproductive.
Denis Abdrakhmanov, Director of the Center for Legal Initiatives at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, notes that ASI advocates the creation of special legal mechanisms that will allow the placement of tourist infrastructure on agricultural lands, while maintaining their basic status.
— As an example, the provisions of the federal law "On Tourist Trails" adopted in the first reading, according to which the use of agricultural land for the creation of a tourist trail is carried out in accordance with the approved passport of the trail, which is coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia and other departments, — he told Izvestia.
Denis Abdrakhmanov believes that pilot projects could be launched in regions with developed agrotourism to test the mechanisms.
Leonid Gunkevich, co-chairman of the Delovaya Rossiya Committee on Tourism, suggests adding the subspecies "agrotourism and auxiliary infrastructure" with a clear framework to the types of permitted use (VRI) on agricultural lands.
"It would be possible to allow tasting and training grounds, visiting centers, areas for workshops and clean-up days, sanitary blocks, canopies, mobile engineering solutions, a small farm kitchen, guest and volunteer accommodation without a foundation," he told Izvestia. — At the same time, it is necessary to establish restrictions: the limit of the share of allocated land, the non-capital nature of buildings, seasonality, etc.
If capital facilities are really necessary, then a simplified "transfer of spots inside the sites" to the required area could be introduced for them. Leonid Gunkevich suggests legalizing direct sales and tastings at the production site with a notification procedure.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Agriculture. The MAYOR declined to comment, redirecting to the Ministry of Agriculture.
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