Yuriy Kosyuk, CEO of Ukraine's major poultry producer PJSC Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) that also grows wheat, sunflowers, and other crops, says the moratorium on farmland sale hinders the country's business development, according to Censor.NET.
The law extending the moratorium on farmland sale in Ukraine came into force as of January 1, 2018.
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has adopted a draft law as a basis to amend some legislative acts of Ukraine to simplify access by oil and gas companies to land plots for hydrocarbon exploration and production, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
Ukrainian farmers in Odesa region are concerned over raiders' attempts to seize their harvest gathered this summer, according to the Ukrainian News agency.
Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk says there is a certain caveat in society about the parameters of the land market introduction, but there is no potential risk that could be mitigated within the architecture of land reform.
Ukraine will use blockchain technology to manage its registry of farmland, saying its current system is vulnerable to fraud that leads to conflicts over ownership, according to Bloomberg.
Detectives of the National Bureau of Investigation in the agro-industrial complex have revealed the corruption schemes, which caused damage worth over UAH 2 billion, or US$78.1 million, according to the press service of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says that the Cabinet of Ministers plans in September to submit to the parliament a draft budget for 2018, providing at least UAH 1 billion, or US$38.6 million, in targeted support for farmers.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk has said in an interview with Bloomberg that Ukraine may get a fifth tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth up to US$1.9 billion in autumn instead of summer because of a delay in the adoption of laws on key reforms in parliament.
The annual rent for the use of state-owned agricultural land in Ukraine grew to 12.1% of its estimated value in the first half of 2017 against 9% year-over-year (y-o-y), according to the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry's press service.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman strongly opposes the sale of agricultural land to large agri-businesses and foreigners in case of lifting the moratorium on the sale of arable land in Ukraine.
Expert from the Center for Economic Strategy Dmytro Yablonovsky predicts the open land market will become a stimulus for investment in agrarian projects with a long payback period and for the cultivation of more complex, high-margin crops.
Economist of the Independent Macroeconomic Forecasts Group (Ukraine) Grigory Kukuruza says the model of land reform developed by Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers will allow small- and medium-sized farmers to participate in bidding for plots of land on favorable terms and avoid competition with large agri-businesses, according to Radio Era.
Aivaras Abromaviсius, the former Ukrainian Minister for Economic Development and Trade, and Oleksiy Mushak, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, claim that largely in response to the International Monetary Fund's condition for further aid, Ukraine is on the verge of launching land reform, possibly its most dramatic and important reform to date, but the current concept proposed by the government is unlikely to succeed.
Leader of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine Vitaliy Skotsyk claims the memorandum of cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveals a cynical lie by the Ukrainian government and unprecedented abuse of power, as the Cabinet is only an executive body and it cannot force the parliament into adopting laws, as is promised to foreign lenders.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says that only individuals with Ukrainian citizenship will be allowed to buy or sell farm land, as is stipulated in a bill on the land market, according to TV Channel 112 Ukraine.