Several agricultural associations and the banking community have asked the country's leadership to prevent the adoption of certain provisions of bill No. 9001-d "On the Land Market", relating to limitations on legal entities' rights to use and acquire agricultural land.
The request is stipulated in the appeal, which was sent on Monday to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. The text of the appeal has been posted on the Web site of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC).
The appeal was signed by the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the UAC, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, the Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks, the American Chamber of Commerce, the European Business Association, the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers, the Ukroliyaprom Association, and the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine.
The appeal claims that limitations on land use by land tenants to an area of not more than 10% of the area of agricultural land in one district and not more than 100,000 hectares across Ukraine, and a ban on the purchase of arable land by legal entities "are unacceptable and groundless."
"The implementation of such requirements of the bill, if approved, would lead to chaos and legal uncertainty in the use of millions of hectares of agricultural land, pushing land tenure relations into the shadows, which will no doubt trigger devastating consequences for stable agricultural production and processing sectors in Ukraine," reads the statement.
In addition, agrarians and bankers are concerned that the bill provides a state land bank, which is being created, with the exclusive rights to operate on the market of agricultural land and rights to hold such land on collateral.
In this regard, the appeal asks the country’s leadership to amend the bill that will give all Ukrainian banks equal rights to the land market, and will provide for the possibility to establish and operate municipal land banks.
