A large discussion on land reform took place during the Ukrainian Land Forum in Kyiv. Representatives of 490 agricultural enterprises from all over Ukraine took part in this event (of these 115 livestock complexes and 79 thsd of cattle stock). Their total land fund is 4.5 million hectares. The organizer of the forum is the Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC).
Four contestants for the presidency, who gained 65% of population’s votes during the first round of elections — Yulia Tymoshenko, Yurii Boiko, Ihor Smeshko and Oleksandr Danyliuk (represented the team of Volodymyr Zelenskii) arrived to communicate with agrarians on land market establishment. People’s deputies, acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, international experts joined the Forum as well.
Presidential candidates and representatives of their teams expressed their vision of introducing land market in Ukraine.
Alexander Danyliuk, who represented Presidential candidate Vladimir Zelenskii, noted that their team is for creating a transparent land market.
Yurii Boiko has voiced that state support for small and medium agricultural business is necessary when opening the land market.
Yulia Tymoshenko believes that the authorities should create conditions of maximum preference for the development of small and medium agricultural producers.
In Ihor Smeshko’s view the land should belong to the people of Ukraine and be sold only to the citizens of Ukraine. The state’s task ‘number one’ is to support the medium-scale producer.
During the Forum, a deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Agrarian Policy and Land Relations Oleksandr Bakumenko presented four variants of the land market establishment, which were developed by the Committee to the Forum.
According to the presented options, citizens of Ukraine only will be able to buy the land. It is proposed to introduce the land market either both for physical and for legal entities, or to do so on a step-by-step basis for several years. The question of hectares to be purchased remains open. In the phased variants it is proposed to provide an opportunity to buy up to 20 hectares to private individuals. And legal entities – up to 200 hectares in the first three years, from the fourth year – maximum 500 hectares, and in the future – up to 20 thousand hectares. Another option suggests in the first three years already to allow the legal entities to buy up to 500 hectares of land, and from the fourth year — to 20 thousand hectares.
During the Forum agrarians could express their view on various aspects of land market establishment by interactive voting.
Thus, the lion’s share of respondents — 66.9% — convinced that competing with holdings, officials and oligarchs for the current land bank will be impossible.
According to the audience, if the land market in Ukraine will be introduced, the right of sale should be distributed on:
– State land and municipal property at first, and then on land of private property — 29.84%;
– the land of private property only — 21.59%;
– the land of private and municipal property at once — 26.03%.
The majority of voters (51,5%) agreed on the idea that private individuals should have the right to buy land at first, and after the end of transitional period this right should gain simultaneously private and juridical entities-agricultural producers whose owners are exclusively private individuals-citizens Of Ukraine. Another 22.46% of voters believe that the right to purchase land should have only private individuals -citizens Of Ukraine. Opinions concerning the maximum size of the land area for agriculture “in one hands” of the private individual divided: 38.51% support “to 200 hectares”, and 34.47% — “to 500 hectares.” Actually, as for the property of legal entities (and related persons). Thus, the maximum size of up to 5000 hectares was supported by 51.52%, and to 10000 hectares — 22.42%.
On April, 10 in Kyiv the Ukrainian Land Forum will take place in the Ukrainian House. The Ukrainian Agrarian Council is an organizer of this event. During the Forum, representatives of the authorities, farmers, MPs and invited guests from other countries will raise topical issues of land reform in Ukraine.
In particular, participants of the Forum will become familiar with the experience of Lithuania and other Baltic countries on establishment of agricultural land market. Kazis Starkiavichius, deputy chairman of the Committee on rural Affairs of the Lithuanian Sejm, will tell who now owns the land in their country and who has the right to purchase it and what mistakes their neighbours have made in this sphere.
Members of the Agrarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Bakumenko (Acting Chairman of the Committee), Ivan Miroshnichenko and Sergey Labazyuk, as well as Olha Trofimtseva, an Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, will express their vision of possible options towards the implementation of land market in Ukraine. Andriy Dykun, a Chairman of the public union, will represent the Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
The TOP-5 contestants for the Presidency of Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky, Petro Poroshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Boiko and Anatoliy Hrytsenko are invited to participate in the Forum. Politicians will present their vision on this topic: whether Ukraine needs the land market and in what format, when it should be introduced and who can be its participant.
Other participants of the Forum:
– Representatives of the parties that signed the memorandum on support of small and medium-sized farmers, – Batkivschyna pary, Association Samopomich, Opposition Platform Za Zhyttia;
– Representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the IFC, USAID, the EBRD;
– Representatives of the National Bank, the NABU and commercial banks;
– Experts from Estonia and Lithuania;
– Representatives of other agrarian associations, which are included in the “Ukrainian Agrarian Forum”;
– Heads and owners of small and medium agrarian business.
Agrarians will express their position on topical issues of land reform by taking part in the interactive voting. According to its results, the UAC will form reform proposals to be forwarded to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, members of the Agrarian Committee and all parliamentary parties, TOP-5 candidates for the presidency of Ukraine.
Event Date: April 10, 2019.
Registration Starts at 09:30.
Venue: Ukrainian House (Kyiv, Khreschatyk Street, 2).
MEDIA Accreditation: press@uacouncil.org.
