The agricultural land in Cyprus is characterised by its small size, the land is fragmented in many plots, the ownership is usually indivisible (land held by several owners), there is dual or multiple ownership or even by the lack of adequate access to the plots and their irregular shape. In Cyprus, the consolidation of agricultural land has been applied since 1970, following the enactment of the relevant Law (the Consolidation and Reallocation of Agricultural Land Law, 24 of 1969 to 145 (I) of 2015). Pursuant to this Law, the structural problems of the agricultural land are solved and the appropriate infrastructure is created to facilitate the rational and efficient development of the agriculture and to prevent the abandonment of the countryside.

The land consolidation is a developmental institution - a tool for rational/sustainable rural development.It creates the basis and infrastructure for competitive agriculture and livestock farming and solves the various problems concerning the agricultural property, which form an obstacle to the rational and efficient development of the agriculture. At the same time, there are provisions concerningthe protection of the environment andthe rural landscaping (preservation of wild flora and fauna, protection of habitats and cultural and natural monuments in the countryside).

Through land consolidation we can achieve an increase in the number of economically viable lands, better organisation and operation of agricultural units, facilitated restructuring of crops, facilitation of the mechanisation of agriculture, utilisation of agricultural land in inaccessible and small fields, secure more agricultural land, reduce the cost of constructing reclamation, irrigation or other infrastructure works, environmental upgrade and protection.

In addition, land consolidation as a developmental tool can be extended to other sectors, in order to solve ownership issues and to create the necessary conditions for the realisation of any giveneconomic, social and environmental target, and to avoid the land acquisition by the state for the construction of infrastructure projects. For example, land consolidation measures can be applied to development areas/zones that face the same structural problems as the rural areas and cannot be rationally developed (urban land reforestation). Also, land consolidation measures can be applied in areas where motorways, water dams, airports are being constructed (the extent of the project footprint can be deducted proportionally from all the owners of the wider land consolidation area, in order to avoid compulsory acquisition and to ensure that the impacts are not borne by a small number of owners), in areas where there are enclaved private plots, in areas of forest and state land (on one hand private land should be released and on the other hand compact forest or state land should be created), in industrial zones without adequate infrastructure and in environmentally protected/preserved areas.