Members of the Verkhovna Rada’s committee for agricultural policy and land relations have signed a bill extending a moratorium to sell farmland for one year, while the law on farmland turnover could be passed in 2020, Deputy Head of the committee Oleksandr Bakumenko has said.
“Some 13 bills on the moratorium have already been submitted to the parliament. One of them was signed by the members of the agrarian committee. It extends the moratorium for one year in order to remove all political insinuations and finalize the bill on farmland turnover,” Bakumenko said at the Tenth International Conference “Doing Agribusiness in Ukraine.”
The bill on farmland turnover, according to him, is being drawn up by a working group created on the basis of the parliamentary agricultural committee. According to the deputy, the preliminary version of the bill will be ready by the end of March, after which players in the land market will be invited to discuss the document.
“When we receive a response from market players, we will once again consider everything and register the bill in the Verkhovna Rada. I hope that the next parliament will pass this bill in 2020,” Bakumenko said.
He also added that next Thursday (December 20) the Verkhovna Rada may consider two more land bills.
“I hope that next Thursday we will introduce an bill protecting from illegal seizures [No. 8121, in July 2018 it was adopted at first reading] and a bill on the transfer of land to territorial communities, as well as a bill on the development strategy of the agricultural sector of Ukraine for the near future,” the deputy said.
