During peak years, Albania had used fertilizers less than almost any other nation in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, in the early 1990s the agricultural area experienced a fertilizer shortage; supplies of pesticides and hybrid seed also ran low. In 1989 Albanian farmers had applied about 155 kgs of active ingredients per hectare, but the nation's economic breakdown pushed the total down to 135 kgs in 1990 and 40 kgs in 1991. A deficiency of hard currency caused fertilizer supplies to drop 80 % and pesticide reserves to fall 64%.

Albania's 409,500 hectares of grazing land remained state-owned contempt the land reform, and in the chaos of 1991 the government set to work on a new law to reassert state control of grazing lands and give managers new guidelines. The Ministry of Agriculture's eighteen pasture enterprises managed grazing lands at the district level and charged customers, including private herdsmen and farmers, a seasonal fee.