Every year about 0.5% of land in Ukraine is sold, although at the time of the launch of the land market it was expected that this figure would be 3%, said the Minister of Agrarian Policy Nikolay Solskyy during the broadcast of telethon “United News”.
According to his information, the cost of land depends on the region.
“This has always been the case, and the war has become an additional argument for differentiation of this issue. Before the war, the lowest cost per hectare was in the west of Ukraine, and in the central and eastern was about the same level. Now the proportion has changed – the prices in the frontline regions are lower than in western and right-bank Ukraine,” he said.
Solsky stated that in 2022 land prices, if “pegged to the hryvnia to the dollar,” showed a drop. However, now the situation has leveled off and the cost of a hectare of land continues to rise. This trend, in his opinion, will be permanent.
According to him, in 2021, when the land market began to function, 150 thousand hectares of agricultural land was sold in Ukraine. In 2022 – a little more than 100 thousand hectares.
“The land market continues to function. It functions, from my point of view, predictably and effectively. It is also an incentive for a very active for the wartime establishment of businesses that depend on the land market, in particular, orchards and berries,” – said the Minister.
He underlined that during 20 years 23 thousands of hectares of gardens have been planted in Ukraine and since autumn 2022 2500 hectares of new modern gardens with irrigation, modern management systems and seedlings have been announced and already spent money. The open land market has contributed to this. Because people invest in land only when it is their property.
The Minister noted that the land for its owners is a sacred concept, “a hope for the future, and hope is sold in the last place. Therefore, land in Ukraine is sold in exceptional cases – or on major holidays, or when disaster strikes. The reason for such a decision can be the death of a shareholder due to age, after which his children or grandchildren decide to sell, or another serious reason occurs in the family. That is why the percentage of contracts of sale/purchase of land in the country is low.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy does not foresee the activation of the land market and predicts that there will not be any factors provoking the growth of sales in the future. Even rising prices won’t cause an increase in land sales, the minister assured.
He added that at the moment there is an increase in land sales in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the frontline areas, which is logical and understandable.
Speaking of land mined and contaminated by explosives, the minister said that “their fate is quite clear – to demine, prepare (for agricultural work – IF) and sow again.” “This is an obvious task for farmers, local authorities, land owners and the state,” Solsky concluded.
