The blog of Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council - Denis Marchuk, on the extension of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land.

Today, one can observe how various coalitions stand for the purchase and sale of agricultural lands. Preferably, such organizations represent the interests of large agricultural holdings, corporations that have the opportunity to use foreign investment attracted and are ready to buy land rights today.

Experts provide various estimates of allegedly possible damage from the extension of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land. But this is speculation on the resonant topic. In fact, the losses of the domestic economy in the case of an immediate and chaotic opening of the land market would be much larger. In my opinion, the continuation of the moratorium should take place until a detailed step-by-step procedure for the introduction of agricultural land into economic circulation is established.

Despite the fact that there are constantly discussions about the need to lift the moratorium, nobody submitted us a draft law on the circulation of agricultural land. Before talking about the opening of the land market, it is necessary to introduce an effective mechanism for cheap lending to small farmers, to work out and adopt a legislative framework for the formation of a developed network of farms and agricultural cooperatives. This will allow small and medium-sized farmers to gain access to the land market and to create competition for agroholdings.

Moreover, raiding in Ukraine are thriving and corrupt mechanisms for moving the rights to land bypassing the moratorium are in operation. Therefore, it is important to adopt anti-raiding bill number 8121, which is aimed at protecting the property rights of agricultural producers at the legislative level. It is necessary to ensure the rule of law in the protection of property rights, to conduct effective judicial reform. In addition, inventory of land is still not completed in Ukraine, the land cadastre and the register of property rights are filling up too slowly. A hasty reform, not supported by society, will not succeed. We must talk not only about the price, but also the value for every citizen who carries Ukrainian land!

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