UNIAN
Under its new agricultural policy, Ukraine’s government plans to strip away red tape from licensing procedures for farmers and privatize around 250 agricultural enterprises, the head of the agriculture ministry has said.
Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Oleksiy Pavlenko also stated that public discussions ongoing regarding the problem of the moratorium on agricultural land sales. He said his ministry is carrying out preparatory work to facilitate the process of lifting the moratorium.
"We’re ready to open the land market. Land should become a commodity," the minister said.
In particular, the ministry is working jointly with the World Bank on the development of a land registry, although this is still only 50% ready, according to the minister.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food intends by July 2015 to present the first draft of an agricultural and rural development strategy for the period up to 2020.
According to government plans, the program will be implemented in two stages. In the first stage (2016) it is planned to develop and adopt new amendments to existing laws and regulations on the development of the agricultural sector. During the second phase (2017-2020) it is planned to carry out the analysis of implementing measures of the first stage, their revision, and then further implementation of the program.