On February 29, 2024, a training webinar for farmers "Peculiarities of Land Relations in the Zone of Hostilities and De-occupied Territories" was organized by the Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC) with the support of the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity in Ukraine (AGRO) within the the joint project "Supporting agricultural MSMEs affected by active hostilities or Russia’s temporary occupation".

The event was moderated by Dmytro Kokhan, Deputy Chairman of the UAC, and lectured by Victoria Kipriianova, the UAC's land consultant.

The event was attended by more than 120 representatives of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises, including about 30 representatives of local governments. More than 700 viewers watched the webinar on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Agri Council.

During the webinar, agricultural producers were introduced to a number of important issues related to agriculture in the areas of military operations and de-occupied territories, namely: payment of rent for land plots in the areas where military operations are underway; renewal of land lease agreements; documentation of the termination of economic activity at facilities located in hostilities zone. In particular, the issue of renewal of lease agreements provoked an active discussion among the webinar participants.

"The situation is becoming critical for those companies that have entered into lease agreements in the past but have lost contact with the lessor. For many business entities, this becomes a real challenge, as this issue is the least regulated by the law," said Viktoriia Kipriyanova. At the same time, if there is a connection with the landowner, it is possible to conclude additional agreements that solve the problem.

The experts also touched upon the issue of expropriation of land for public needs. This topic also requires the development of additional mechanisms for protecting property rights and tenants' interests.

A large number of questions from the webinar participants and an active exchange of views with the experts demonstrate the need to continue the work of the UAC to eliminate regulatory uncertainties that currently exist in the land legislation. It is necessary to increase the effectiveness of measures taken by the authorities in the field of land use, mechanisms for concluding lease agreements and paying rent in the hostilities zone and de-occupied territories.

The webinar recording is available here.

We remind that the UAC, with the support of the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity in Ukraine (AGRO), is implementing a joint project to provide legal and other expert support to agricultural producers affected by hostilities or temporary occupation by the Russian Federation.

Thanks to the project, affected agricultural producers will receive individualized advice on land, agrarian, tax legislation, etc. For prompt legal support, please contact the hotline at +38 067 503 19 08.

Also, we recommend adding photo and video evidence of the losses of the affected enterprise to the Interactive map of the Ukrainian agricultural sector destructions.