Any natural or legal individual wishing to acquire agricultural land in Bolivia, in principle needs to classify the type or category of agricultural property they are selling. You should be able to answer the following question: can the land being offered to me be transferred? Although the Bolivian State, in its own constitution, guarantees the legally acquired rights of private landowners whose lands are located within indigenous native peasant territories, it is also true that this guarantee is subject to a classification that confers specific rights, obligations, and prohibitions.
Thus, the Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia establishes that individual agrarian property is classified as follow: small, medium and entrepreneurial according to surface area, production, and development criteria. The Bolivian Agrarian Law complements this classification according to the following criteria:
- The Solar Campesino is the place of residence of the farmer and his family. This type of agricultural land is indivisible and has the character of an unseizable family patrimony;
- The Small Size Property is the source of subsistence resources for the owner and his family. As in the previous case, it is indivisible agricultural land and has the character of an unseizable family patrimony. It is important to note that in this category, the character of indivisibility does not affect the capacity to inherit.
- The Medium Size Property. This portion of agricultural land may belong to natural or juridical individuals and is exploited with the help of its owner, salaried, temporary or permanent workers and using technical-mechanical means, in such a way that its main volume of production is destined for the market. Medium-owned agricultural land may be transferred, pledged or mortgaged in accordance with civil law. Clearly, unlike the previous types of properties, this category establishes the possibility of contracting on the land.
- The Agricultural Company is owned by individuals or legal entities and is operated with supplementary capital, salaried labor and the use of modern technical means. It may be transferred, pledged or mortgaged in accordance with civil law.
- Community Lands of Origin refer to the geographic spaces that constitute the habitat of indigenous and native peoples and communities, to which they have traditionally had access and where they maintain and develop their own forms of economic, social and cultural organization, so as to ensure their survival and development. They are inalienable, indivisible, irreversible, collective, composed of communities or commonwealths, unseizable and imprescriptible. This category of land is not subject to agricultural taxes of any nature.
- Communal properties are agricultural lands collectively titled to peasant communities and former haciendas and are the source of livelihood of their owners. They are inalienable, indivisible, irreversible, collective, unseizable, and imprescriptible.
As seen in these 6 categories of agricultural land, there are some that allow the possibility of contracting, transferring, buying, and selling and other businesses. Furthermore, there are types of agricultural land on which it is not possible to contract or do business on them. In that regard, it is of utmost importance before acquiring an agricultural property to establish the type, category or classification of agricultural land to be acquired. For this purpose, our specialized lawyers will be pleased to help you.
