Ukraine needs "fully fledged farmland market", President Says

Bloomberg | 7 April 2010

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Ukraine's land-sales ban “hampers development of the agricultural sector,” says country's President Viktor Yanukovych


By Kateryna Choursina -


Ukraine needs a “fully fledged” market for farmland to boost the agricultural industry’s efficiency, President Viktor Yanukovych said.

“Steps to introduce a regulated market of agricultural land have to be prior and urgent,” Yanukovych told lawmakers today during a speech to parliament in the capital, Kiev. The president said Feb. 25 that Ukraine will allow farmland sales next year for the first time to stimulate investment.

Ukraine currently prohibits the sale of agricultural land, and food production companies lease plots from individual owners. Ukraine has 41.6 million hectares (102.7 million acres) of agricultural land, according to the Agriculture Ministry data, of which arable land accounts for 32.48 million hectares. About 7 million plots of land are individually owned, according to the Ukrainian Grain Association.

The land-sales ban “hampers development of the agricultural sector,” Yanukovych said. Efficient agriculture needs “concentrated land ownership,” he added.

Yanukovych said lawmakers should legislate to ensure that agricultural land is used only for farming.

Ukraine and neighboring countries would be able to increase their agriculture production with more private investment, according to a 2008 report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at [email protected].

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