Call for Ukraine to cancel moratorium on the sale of land

According to Nikolai Lugachov of the UNDP Blue Ribbon Analytical and Advisory Centre, Ukraine needs to abolish the moratorium on selling agricultural land as soon as possible in order to revitalize the agricultural sector. According to Mr Lugachov, more than 45% of Ukrainian farmers are in favour of cancelling the moratorium and are ready to buy the land at market prices since the liquidity of such assets is obvious. The introduction of mortgage loans on agricultural land will make it possible to invest in agricultural business and ensure its development, relying less on State subsidies. “Land which can be bought can become the object of loans and will be of interest to banks and investors. However it would be too early to talk of investors swarming to invest money in agriculture” Mr Lugachov commented that certain Ukrainian politicians were at present playing on the idea that the abolition of the moratorium could lead to foreigners buying up agricultural land in huge quantities. He explained that such fears were groundless since the Land Code quite explicitly prohibits the sale to foreign nationals of agricultural land.