|
Poll reveals that 67% of respondents would not sell their land plots once the moratorium is lifted
Kyiv, 4 February 2009. There are no grounds for concern expressed by some politicians regarding abolishing the moratorium on agricultural sales. They maintain that once the ban is lifted, peasants would hurry to sell their land plots, even at rock bottom price. However, the results of an opinion poll of landowners in Ukraine show that 67% would not sell their land plot. Only 12.4% want to sell their parcel once they get an opportunity; most of them cannot or do not want to cultivate the land.
These are the results of a research that has been conducted by the Foundation for Effective Governance. It is based on interviews with 1,000 persons in all Ukrainian regions who own a farmland parcel.
The research also reveals that 70.4% of landowners lease their plots, thus proving the existence of a rental land market. Most peasants see land as a valuable asset; they believe that a stable income from leasing a land plot is more profitable than obtaining a bigger yet just one time sum of money from land sale.
Only a small share of landowners (8.6%) would not sell their land to foreigners or large agribusinesses.
"Polling results reveal that Ukraine is ready for lifting the moratorium on farmland sales. Most of landowners are not going to sell their plots hence there are no real risks of harming the peasants. It is also indicative that landowners fully understand the necessity of investments in agriculture. That is why they do not treat foreign investors or big agricultural holdings as a threat. There is a strong need of launching a free land market in Ukraine. The government has set it out as its task, particularly because implementing faster land reform and privatization within the agro-industrial complex is demanded by a stand-by arrangement with IMF", Andrey Lobach, FEG's senior project manager, explains.
In the opinion of Mykola Prysyazhnuk, head of the Agricultural Policy and Land Relations Parliamentary Committee, liberalization of an agricultural land market is an essential part of reforms in an agrarian sector. However, the moratorium can be lifted only after relevant laws are adopted, among them the laws on a land market and on a united cadastre.
The opinion poll was carried out from 26.12.2008 to 16.01.2009 by GfK Ukraine. The results were obtained by interviewing 1,000 owners of farmland plots, who live in villages and towns with a population of less than 50,000 people.
|
