Decree-Law No. 158/91 regulating the allocation of nationalized or expropriated land for cultivation.

With due regard to the crop farm redistribution policy, this Decree-Law defines the rules governing the allocation of expropriated or nationalized land which, with few exceptions, shall not be managed directly by the State or by public entities. It shall, in general, be allocated for cropping to private individuals or bodies corporate with sufficient professional competence. These are listed, in order of priority, as young farmers (between 18 and 40 years), small farmers (without a steady salary), and groups of rural workers (cooperatives, for instance). This land may not be allocated to rural sector civil servants. The plots allocated shall not be larger than the maximum or, as far as possible, smaller than the minimum prescribed by the Decree-Law. Plot sizes shall be determined on the basis of the total land size, its productive capacity and the crops cultivated, so as to ensure that it is properly farmed after resizing. Land shall always be allocated on a contract basis, in principle, through rural leases, drawn up in accordance with the laws in force, accompanied by farming plans. In some instances farming concessions (whereby farm enterprises may, against payment, use, hold and manage a crop farm), private use permits (whereby farm enterprises may, against payment, farm agricultural land on a temporary, precarious tenure basis) or contracts covering one agricultural season or year (during which the holder may farm the land) may be granted.