 The Stefanowski family from the village of Egre in Bitola municipality have had a long tradition in agriculture They wanted to modernize their farm, but that was difficult to achieve with their land fragmented into 27 tiny parcels scattered in different locations across the field The majority of farms in North Macedonia are smaller than two hectares compared to the average farm size of 16.6 hectares in the European Union In addition, small family farms in the country are often fragmented into five or more small irregularly shaped parcels distant from each other Making agricultural production expensive and inefficient Inefficient and obsolete agricultural infrastructure such as access rows and irrigation and drainage systems is an additional challenge facing farmers To address these issues the European Union and the Food Agricultural Organization of the United Nations FAO Created the mainland project supporting agricultural land consolidation in North Macedonia A process of consolidating land parcels with the aim to increase their size Optimize their shape and improve the necessary agricultural infrastructure In the active land consolidation project areas Mainland has worked to reduce the number of land parcels by at least 50 percent The results in Egre are impressive. Here the number of land parcels was reduced by almost fourfold from 874 to 260 parcels Thus out of 27 parcels Slav now has six parcels with regular ships And an average size of 2.2 hectares The newly formed parcels now have better access to agricultural infrastructure Thanks to the project investments in access roads and drainage and irrigation channels Slav Sam Dimitra says this could encourage young farmers to stay in the country We can do this because we want to invest in the country and to buy more land Because we don't have enough land and we don't want to return the same land Now the value of the land is lower than the value of the land that is made for the consolidation I can say that we have to increase the value of the land from three to more Improved irrigation and drainage systems will not only contribute to greater productivity of agricultural production But will also increase its resilience to extreme weather conditions such as floods storms and droughts The project involves women at every level and ensures women's equal access to agricultural land In the process of land consolidation from family farmers and landowners to ministry officials Women play a significant role in mainland With the restitution of nationalized agricultural land to its private owners Mariana Capcosca Angelesca a woman farmer from the village of Debiani in the municipality of Dolnani Inherited land property from her grandfather, which she could not use because it was fragmented into 65 parcels For over 20 years the European Union is supporting land consolidation through the rural development programs of the member states Land consolidation activities are often integrated with measures to support sustainable and climate-resistant agriculture nature conservation environmental protection and rural development This links land consolidation to the european green deal A new growth strategy which aims to transform the european union into a fair and prosperous society With a modern resource efficient and competitive economy Land consolidation ensures our food systems are sustainable and fit for the future