More than a million hectares of farmland sold through emphyteusis — Solskiy

At least 1.1 mln ha of the Ukrainian farmland was in fact sold through emphyteusis. This was stated by Mykola Solskiy, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy, during the parliamentary hearings "Land reform: a domestic model of agricultural land turnover."

"As of August 2019, according to the data of the State Register of Immovable Property Rights, 111,620 emphyteusis contracts were executed, which is about 497.3 thou. ha. Long-term lease agreements were concluded for 600 thou. ha. Thus, 1.1 mln ha of moratorized lands have already been sold," he said.

According to Mykola Solskiy, almost 500 thou. ha of agricultural land are currently registered under the emphyteusis contracts in Ukraine.

He specified that Ukraine also has 3.7 mln ha of private agricultural land, i.e. land plots allocated for households and not subject to a moratorium. Thus, their owners are free to sell land plots, and over the past 15 years, about 1 mln ha have already been sold.

"Today we have a market that operates via grey moratorium bypass schemes. Its distortion has consequences. The price of such land is not fair. The seller who receives an underestimated value of the land plot and the buyer who is not legally protected both sustain losses," concluded Mykola Solskiy, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy.

Earlier it was reported that within three months of 2020, functional farmland market in Ukraine will bring additional UAH 9 bln to the growth of Ukraine's GDP, accounting for about 23%.

The new edition of the infographic guide Ukrainian Agribusiness 2018/19 is available for download.