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Dr. Oleg Nivievskyi, Dr. Denys Nizalov

Preconditions for lifting the Moratorium on Farmland Sales

The Moratorium on Farmland Sales has been in place for 16 years in Ukraine. It affects close to 70% of the territory and 16% of the population that cannot freely dispose over their farmland plots. The majority of these owners live in rural areas and are of old age.

  • Ukraine
NL 108 | October 2017
Agro-Economics

The moratorium is also accountable for the fact that farms’ productivity in Ukraine is only a fraction of that in competitive countries. Discussions about lifting the moratorium and its future design are still going on and there is a growing support to remove the moratorium, but the timing remains unclear. However, certain preconditions for a successful lifting of the moratorium are equally important along the future design of the farmland sales market. Three preconditions are particularly relevant: (i) protecting rights in a transparent rule-based environment; (ii) ensuring that state and communal land is used for the public benefit; and (iii) enabling banks to support sustained flows of capital to rural areas and agribusinesses.

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