The Miscellaneous Thread

* Edited at 08.04.2022, 3:43 PM ET *

After the law on the sale of agricultural land was passed and went into effect on July 1, 2021, the cost per hectare was approximately $2.500, but soon soared up to $10.000. Up to that point, a piece of land larger than two hectares could only be rented by foreigners. But, after the Neo-Nazi junta took power, combined with a steady price increase for arable land, the law was changed and the two-decades-long moratorium on the sale of agricultural land to foreigners was lifted. Prior to this decision, governments were reluctant to allow it, as the move was always seen as extremely unpopular with the Ukrainian people. During his presidential campaign, Vladimir Zelensky said that he planned to organize a national referendum to resolve this issue "once and for all". However, no such vote was ever cast.

An April 2021 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the largest foreign creditors of the Kiev regime, made the lifting of the moratorium a condition for its then-loan package and claimed that economic output would allegedly grow from 6% to more than 12% over the next decade, depending on how the reform is implemented. Despite widespread opposition to lifting the ban on land sales, the excuse was found in the fact that too much time had passed without the Rada (Parliament) establishing a transparent mechanism for the sale of land, which was one of the provisions of the 2001 law.

In one of the public opinion polls from the time of discussions on lifting the moratorium, it was clear that at least 81% of respondents were against the sale of land to foreigners, while only 13% supported it. As many as two-thirds of respondents believed that a decision of such importance for the state should have been made after a referendum. Nearly 60% believed that agricultural land should be owned by the state, as is the case in Canada or Israel.

Official statistics in 2021 indicated that approximately 30% of the 43.6 million Ukrainians lived in rural areas. According to data from the US Department of Commerce and the World Bank, the agricultural industry in Ukraine employs more than 14% of the workforce, while agricultural products form the largest share of Ukraine's exports. During the Soviet era, farms were collectivized and owned by the state. After the collapse of the USSR, the land was distributed to the employees who worked on state farms. However, the legal aspects of such a transfer were never fully regulated, much less implemented. Soon followed a brief period during which the sale of land to foreigners was allowed, but then, the 2001 moratorium was passed.

* Edited at 08.04.2022, 5:54 PM ET *