SWOT analysis of land consolidation projects in western Lithuania

The aim of this article is to distinguish strengths and weaknesses of land consolidation process, as well as to find out the opportunities of this process, and the threats which prevent the successful development of land consolidation process. With the purpose to achieve the goal, the SWOT analysis of five land consolidation projects in western Lithuania was carried out. It was determined that the main weaknesses of the projects examined are as follows: land consolidation process involves only planning, and not the final clearing - up work of a territory; low activity of landowners; limited opportunities of some interested persons, who wish to participate in the process. Strengths are distinguished as follows: better conditions for the development of rural infrastructure; competitive agriculture are being formed; new jobs; a system of rational land use is being created; sustainable development is being planned. The majority of opportunities are linked with the influence of land consolidation project on other areas, i.e. areas that are not directly related to the result that land consolidation project aims at. Threats occur due to the fact that the authors of projects only copy the regulating provisions of land consolidation projects and do not get into a more comprehensive interpretation of norms of these provisions. Moreover, they do not give details on their analysis, interpretation, or at least their preliminary assessment. In a SWOT context, land consolidation projects prepared in western Lithuania, are analogous to other land consolidation projects carried out in Lithuania.