VINNYTSIA NATIONAL AGRARIAN UNIVERSITY SIGNED A TRIPARTITE MEMORANDUM OF FURTHER COOPERATION WITH VINNYTSIA CITY COUNCIL AND VINNYTSIA MUNICIPAL INNOVATION CENTER

Participants of International Scientific and Practical Conference «Land is the Potential of Energy, Economic and National Security of the State», i.e. more than 600 scientists, academicians, agrarians, representatives of territorial communities, politicians, lawyers, experts and students made their proposals and comments on the bill On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Circulation of Agricultural Lands. This annual conference held at Vinnytsia National Agrarian University is a traditional venue for discussing topical issues of the country's economy and politics. The President of the Ukrainian Scientific and Educational Consortium, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Hryhorii Kaletnik said, “This year it has become especially important because now we are talking about an extremely topical issue for all Ukraine, which is extremely important for its national security, i.e. the conditions and models of land market introduction. That is why our task today is to discuss all the caveats, cautions, risks and rules to ensure the successful development of the state, not its loss. It is obvious that the draft laws of the Government and the People's Deputies of Ukraine on opening the land market are not aimed at developing the economy, improving the conditions of activity of Ukrainian farmers, agricultural enterprises, private peasant farms and the Ukrainian village as a whole. The draft laws, unfortunately, are aimed exclusively at trade and land speculation”.

More than 20 reports were heard at the plenary session; they investigated different areas of the land market implementation issue. 

For example, Olha Khodakivska, Doctor of Economics, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Agrarian Economics, considered the neoliberal approaches to the formation of models of market circulation of land. She emphasized that the land is not just a commodity, but our habitat, our future and the future of our children. The well-being in the countryside, the issue of food and economic security of our country depend on the development of land relations. The expert notes, “The models proposed by the Government do not contain agreed consolidated decisions. Serious warnings make it possible to concentrate 200,000 hectares of land in one hand and to give agro-holdings the right to buy back those lands that are in their use today. This opens the way to monopolization of the land market. Such models will not lead to the promised GDP growth. We are seeing a pattern where farmers do not buy equipment and sell livestock complexes to save money on land purchases. That is why we should choose another model, which is being actively worked by experts and scientists, which will be aimed at forming a powerful middle class in the countryside”.

Mykola Kucher, MP of Ukraine, considers the topic of the land market to be extremely politicized. He asked, “Should the land market be implemented today?” He answered, “No!” More than 73% of Ukrainians oppose the sale of land, 90% oppose the sale of our national wealth to foreigners. That is why the authorities should work carefully on the fuses in order to avoid catastrophic consequences.

Foreign colleagues from Bulgaria and Latvia shared their experience in the development of land reform and the land market with participants of the conference, i.e. Minko Heorgiiev, Doctor of Laws, Associate Professor of Plovdiv Agrarian University, Bulgarian National Delegate to the European Council of Agricultural Law, and Sandra Jacobson, Doctor of Economics and Director of Economics programs of the University of Latvia. The land reform was introduced over 20 years ago in both countries. The experience, problems they have encountered, and ways to solve them is a valuable example for us. Bulgaria has clearly defined restrictions on the acquisition of land by foreigners, but they are experiencing EU intervention and pressure.

The serious gap in the land legislation of Latvia is considered to be the absence of a statutory norm on obligatory cultivation of land, as 14% of land is still not cultivated. The state has introduced double taxation for such landowners to remedy the situation, and those who use the land on purpose, cultivate it properly, and receive subsidies. Scholars consider the shortcomings in the legislation as a result of a hasty reform, and we are warned.

Latvian land laws have serious restrictions on the acquisition of land by foreigners. So, citizens of the European Union who live in the territory of the country and speak Latvian (level B2) can buy the land. In addition, persons without adequate education and experience in agriculture can become owners of no more than 10 hectares of land.

The speech of Maryna Stavnіichuk, a well-known lawyer, a member of the European Commission For Democracy through Law, of the Venice Commission from Ukraine (2009-2014) was substantiated concerning conformity of the bills on the land market to the Constitution of Ukraine. She said, “The world lives on human rights, among which the priority one is the right to the future, today we want to sell the most valuable that we have, I mean our land. And this is the future of our children! ” The Constitution of Ukraine clearly states that land is an object of property right of the Ukrainian people. Se, as a lawyer, can’t understand which foreigners can be referred today when 92% of Ukraine's land is for sale. So, this is a matter of national security, it is our national interest here. “We cannot allow our children and grandchildren to become mercenaries on their land”, Maryna Stavnіichuk called MPs, scientists, agrarians, all who care about the fate of the country. 

Hryhorіi Zabolotnyi, Professor of VNAU, People's Deputy of Ukraine said, “Land is a very strong cause of tension in society. If we do not learn to set the accents correctly, then they will set them for us. We are not against the land market, but we are against hasty and ill-advised decisions. The state should ensure equal conditions of access to land purchases for all citizens of Ukraine and prevent foreign purchases.

The President of the Ukrainian Scientific and Educational Consortium, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Hryhorii Kaletnik made a profound analysis of the problem of agricultural land use in Ukraine, explaining all the risks and threats posed by the Government-proposed bill, with nationally-oriented proposals and amendments to the bill. He said, “The admission of legal entities to the land market is the opening of land sales to foreigners, because it is impossible to find the final beneficiary, and most often it is the foreigner. Ukraine should pay attention to the experience of Poland, which, unlike us, has increased GDP growth several times during the moratorium on land sales. We listening carefully to all European recommendations have not been able to reach the level of GDP that already had the agriculture of Ukraine in 1989-1990. We have lost our position in agricultural production, processing industry, machine building, chemical industries etc. Therefore, the land market is not in time, but a serious economic development program is in time. The land in the hands of a Ukrainian is Food and National Security of the state! It is necessary to prescribe fuses that will save the land for our children, for the state, so that it does not disappear from the world map. As for the decision of the right of individual owners of land units to sell their land, the state should do so by purchasing such a land unit and lease it to those who are able and want to work on the land. There are enough resources for this in the state”.

Dmytro Krasylenko, the master of VNAU, represented the opinion of young people at the conference. He stressed that it is a painful issue for them, because today young people want to live and work in their own country developing its economy: Dmytro Krasylenko said, “Our land is invaluable, and the authorities should pay attention to the experience of England, Israel, Canada, the US and other countries that have not fully leased their land to private property, and the state leases it to efficient land users, and the results are known!” Young scientist showed how successful a small and medium-sized farming country could develop in the Netherlands.

Andrіi Shynkovych, chairman of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, defined in his report that the level of foreigners' interest in Ukrainian land as a food and economically viable resource is critically high today, which is very dangerous for Ukraine. The politician considers Ukraine a good piece for Europe. He said, “To begin with the land turnover should be civilized, and it can be shown on the example of state lands, we should give them a fair assessment, to provide the state support of farmers”. Particular attention was paid to the science by the scientist. In his opinion, science should pass from the research institutes to the Universities. 

Pavlo Kalenych, director of the agricultural company JSC Olgopil, whose achievements are known throughout the country (crop yields and livestock rates are at the level of the best European farmers) and Serhii Lanovyk, chairman of the Association of farmers and private landowners of Vinnytsia region thanked for the conference, the sense of unity of producers, scientists, public figures and especially young people involving small and medium-sized farmers. They felt and saw an understanding of the crucial issues of land reform and the hope that they would still be able to reach out to the initiators of turbo-mode technologies to make hasty and unjustified decisions that would seriously affect the fate of the state and its citizens.

The result of the conference was the resolution, it presented a sample draft Law on Agricultural Land Circulation containing restrictive rules on the maximum possible size of land purchases and all fuses that do not allow leaving of peasants without land and reducing the level of Food Security of Ukraine.

 

226