Ideas Festival – 2021: Land of Opportunities

Land reform covers a wider range of issues than relations between agrarians and landowners. In one way or another, these changes affect every Ukrainian: in the context of the economy, legal regulation, infrastructure, and even world perception.

The opening of the land market, its prospects, and challenges facing the state and all interested parties were discussed during the panel discussion “Land of opportunities: the formation of the Ukrainian land market” at the Festival of Ideas 2021.

The dialogue was attended by Roman Leshchenko, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Mykola Gordiychuk, director of Agrico Ukraine LLC, and Svitlana Gureeva, head of the legal practice of real estate and construction at the Sayenko Kharenko law firm.

Svitlana Gureeva emphasized that according to all its characteristics, the land falls under the category of goods. Instead, in order for it to fully become one, the legislative framework needs to be revised:

— The land law has been adopted, but it does not work as it should. This requires the adoption of other legislative acts that would complement it. The judicial system and the land assessment procedure require additional regulation. Attention should also be paid to infrastructure, in particular to the construction of roads in rural areas. Land will be a good commodity when the whole system is fully operational.

Mykola Gordiychuk emphasizes that the participation of specialized associations in carrying out the reform is very important. They actively submitted their proposals at the stage of adopting the law, and continue to do so now. As one of the positive phenomena of the reform, Mr. Gordiychuk singles out the change in the producer’s attitude towards the land:

— Before that, the land was a resource to make a profit and use it to develop the region where you work. It was difficult to invest a lot of money in it, when you understand that in 2-3 years someone else could buy it, or the landlord could terminate the lease agreement. Now we can talk about investments in the land, in its fertility. The reform changes the producer’s attitude to the land, which is a plus.

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko also emphasized the importance of the participation of specialized associations in the reform process. In addition, he agreed with the imperfection of the new law and emphasized the correctness of the time chosen for the changes:

— The country will never be ready. The loss of opportunities of this political cycle may call structural reform into question. There will be problems, and there will be collisions, but this is a living organism. If we didn’t do it, then there would be rallies and constitutional courts. Associations provide feedback.

Ideas Festivl — 2021 was held by Aspen Institute Kyiv together with Impact Hub Odessa.