Land reform in Ukraine without the timely adoption and high-quality functioning of the judicial reform, as well as without the development of infrastructure will have negative consequences for the Ukrainian statehood, director of the Ukrainian Barometer sociological service Viktor Nebozhenko believes.
“Ukraine needs land reform, but it must be complemented by a judicial reform that would regulate possible conflicts. This is important. There is a risk of banditry with landlessness in the future. For example, there is a farmer who owns fertile land, and tomorrow he is shown documents that the land is no longer his. And with the judicial system that is now in Ukraine, it will end badly,” Nebozhenko said at an online conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on the topic “Hot April 2021. Is Ukrainian politics entering perfect storm zone?”
Also, according to the political scientist, “in Ukraine it is necessary to develop a system of roads so that people and equipment can be brought or taken away to the fields.”
“Whatever land potential Ukraine has, it will not be realized without roads,” Nebozhenko added.
He noted that “an additional guarantee of a successful land reform would be the creation of land banks and land exchanges.”
“The figure of the prime minister, who would understand the issues of agrarian policy, is also important,” the expert said.
Political analyst Valentyn Hladkykh, in turn, noted that “there is a danger of excessive concentration of land in transnational companies or land oligarchs.”
“Land in no case should become an object of financial speculation. Conventionally, such an asset is bought with the hope of resale in case of a rise in its price, but it is not interesting as a resource for exploitation. I am a supporter of land reform from the point of view that land should be in the hands of private owners who will directly work on it. Since the land begins to be worth something only when human work is added to it,” he said.
“The Verkhovna Rada lifted the moratorium on the sale of land, but it is necessary to develop infrastructure so that everything can function in a civilized way. Otherwise, very negative consequences could occur not only for the Ukrainian government, but also for the Ukrainian statehood,” the political analyst added.
