Within three years, a referendum will be held on the sale of agricultural land in Ukraine to foreigners. Only after this will the legal ban on selling land to foreigners potentially be lifted. This was stated by the new Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture, Roman Leschenko, in an interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
“For the time being, only Ukrainian citizens will be able to buy agricultural land. Therefore, foreign investors can for now only lease land for a long term, just as before. However, foreign investors can – as they do now – continue to co-finance Ukrainian agricultural companies.
Leschenko noted that currently there are very few Polish investors in Ukrainian agriculture. According to the minister, there are somewhat more investors from Germany and the Netherlands in this sector. Leschenko fears that foreign investors are in no hurry to invest in Ukraine, as they do not yet see stable land market legislation.
Due to years of political struggle in Ukraine over land market reform, investors have been very cautious about entering the Ukrainian land market.
For years, corruption prevailed at the national level in Ukraine in the sale of land and the issuance of permits for new agricultural businesses. Therefore, it was recently decided to shift the issuance of agricultural land from national to regional authorities.
To the satisfaction of Ukrainian farmers, President Zelensky has abandoned plans to completely dismantle the Ministry of Agriculture. In November, the Kiev government decided on the full transfer of agricultural land to the united territorial communities. In total, the aim is to transfer 2 million hectares of state land to these territorial communities.
Ukrainian agricultural exports to the European Union slightly declined last year due to the coronavirus crisis, but the country maintained its place among the top five largest agricultural exporters to European countries. At the same time, Ukraine ranks 15th on the list of the largest buyers of European imported agricultural products, accounting for 1.4% of the total volume.