The Scottish Government accepts crofting could "wither on the vine" within the next 10 to 20 years and is likely to move quickly towards legislation to help save the nation's unique system of land tenure.

As the Scottish Parliament prepared for today's debate on crofting, Environment Minister Michael Russell expressed the hope yesterday that it will not become a source of party political division.

"I hope there will be strong unanimity on the key points," he said in an interview with The Herald.

The debate follows on from the committee of inquiry into crofting, led by Professor Mark Shucksmith, which unveiled a radical prescription for the future of crofting.

Its findings included abolition of the Crofters Commission and the transfer of some of its powers to a federation of locally elected crofting boards with some functions going to a body such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

There were also measures to ensure only crofters who live on or near their crofts enjoy crofters' rights as well as preventing a dash to cash in crofting assets before any future legislation.

Mr Russell said: "I expect this to end in legislation. I can't confirm the timescale but you can take it I will be indicating that it will be as soon possible. Doing nothing is not an option."

Ministers, he said, would now be discussing the Shucksmith report and will publish their conclusion "by the end of the summer".

He thought it likely the government would move straight to a draft Bill rather than going out to consultation again. This would point to legislation being concluded in mid-2010. Any abolition of the Crofters Commission would then be likely to come the following year.

Forecasting major challenges ahead, Mr Russell added: "I think the most complex part will be the simplification of crofting law.

"Crofting legislation has built up over 122 years. It is no small matter to go back to first principles and start again."

He said that the Shucksmith committee was not about the future of the Crofters Commission, but about the future of crofting.

"I want to be positive about the contribution the commission has made but I think the time for change has arrived," he said.

There would be no compulsory redundancies and while there had been no thinking about where its successor body would be located, he anticipated calls for it to be based in the true crofting areas and not Inverness.

Although the Scottish Government's final position has yet to be agreed, Mr Russell did endorse the Shucksmith committee's proposal to tackle the problem of absentee crofters (currently more than 1700).

"To give the benefits of crofting to those who actually croft strikes me as axiomatic, and the fact that is in any way regarded as controversial perhaps indicates that things have gone a bit wrong," he said.