By KYIV. Dec 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Agri Council, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Congress of Farmers, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum appeal to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a request to find a compromise on the second stage of land reform, which from January 1, 2024 introduces sales to “one hand” up to 10,000 hectares.
“In order to maintain balance and provide equal rights for all Ukrainian farmers without exception, the round table participants opposed raising the limit on the permissible amount of land owned by one person from the current 100 to 10,000 hectares in one hand from 2024. They propose leaving until the end of the war and for another two years after the victory, the limit is 100 hectares in ‘one hand’ for both legal entities and individuals,” according to a statement issued on Thursday following the round table.
According to him, government agencies are ignoring the call of these associations for discussion and negotiations.
“We, small and medium-sized businesses, make up 65% of all agricultural business, which brings 20% of the country’s GDP. Why are we here today? Frankly, because we are afraid. We were not given arguments, they did not explain to us what will happen from January 1, 2024,” head of the Ukrainian Agri Council Andriy Dikun said.
According to him, the desire of small and medium-sized farmers to delay the increase in land purchase limits from 2024 is explained by the critical financial state of agricultural enterprises in 2023: in conditions of war, they do not have the funds to purchase land.
The head of the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, Hennadiy Novikov, said that the law on the land market cannot operate under martial law, when a large number of potential buyers are in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Large agribusiness is for the land market, medium-sized is against limits, small is against the second stage in general. And this is during the war. Agricultural associations express what hurts farmers. I believe that the authorities need to listen to the agricultural sector and develop the only solution that will suit everyone, like in 2019, when the law was adopted,” head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum, which unites associations of small, medium and large agricultural businesses, Maria Didukh said.
