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Madona municipality

Madona Municipality
Madonas novads
Municipality
Coat of arms of Madona Municipality
Coat of arms
Madonas novads karte.png
Country  Latvia
Formed 2009
Centre Madona
Government
 • Mayor Andrejs Ceļapīters
Area
 • Total 2,153.4 km2 (831.4 sq mi)
Population (2013)
 • Total 26,953
 • Density 13/km2 (32/sq mi)
Website www.madona.lv

Madona Municipality (Latvian: Madonas novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Arona parish, Barkava parish, Bērzaune parish, Dzelzava parish, Kalsnava parish, Lazdona parish, Liezēre parish, Ļaudona parish, Mārciena parish, Mētriena parish, Ošupe parish, Prauliena parish, Sarkaņi parish, Vestiena parish and Madona town the administrative centre being Madona.

On January 1, 2013 in Madona county were registered 2032 business units, from those 4,3% were sole proprietorships, 0,2% joint-stock companies, 35,8% limited liability companies, 0,4% affiliates, 0,2% general partnerships, 9,4% individual businesses, 48,6% farms and 1,1% cooperative societies. In 2012 the number of enterprises per 1000 population reached 78 enterprises, that is relatively higher than the average of Vidzeme region (71) and Latvia (69). During the period from 2009 the number of enterprises per 1000 population in Madona county has increased by 22%. On January 1, 2012 the majority – 94,7% of all economically active enterprises – are micro enterprises, 4,7% small and 6% medium- sized companies. The registered equity capital of enterprises registered in Madona county in January 2013 reached LVL 17'317'302,00, ranking Madona county in 92nd place out of 120.

Forests are one of the most important natural resources in the county. They take up about 45% (97'526,9 hectares) of county territory and 91,5% of the total forest land of county. In general, forest land covers 49% (106'572,1 hectares) of the caunty area. By the type of ownership, 60% are the private forest land, 38,8% are national forest land and 1,2% are local government forest land. The largest proportion of forests in Madona county is in Lazdona, Sarkaņi, Mārciena, Ļaudona and Liezēre parishes. Agricultural land covers about 39% of the county area. Most of the agricultural lands takes arable lands (63%), pastures (22%), grasslands (14%), fruit orchards (1%). The largest agricultural areas are located Ošupe, Barkava, Prauliena, Ļaudona un Liezēre parishes. Madona county is rich in mineral resources: peat, dolomite, clay, sand and sand-gravel, freshwater limestone, sapropel.


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