Villager, having lost his land, will not return it

Those who want to get rid of land had to hand over it to the state or to the society for reimbursement – 2 hectare for $ 30 thousands. And the one who wants to become a farmer would take it on lease

Kuzma Matviyuk, a farmer from Pyrohovets, which is in Khmelnytskyi district, was deliberately chosen to be an interlocutor for the conversation about land, its destiny in Ukraine and villagers’ attitude toward this problem. Being of a grain-grower heritage, long-term work on the position of the manager of the department of development of the farm Khmelnytskyi Region Village State Division, rich life experience in both dissident and political prisoner life – all these together gave him a right to have his own principal position in relation to the land, its real cost and possible variants of the land-trading.

Very often the argument that the state is lack of money is given. But I will never believe that our state is poor. Billion amounts exist, but they are concentrated somewhere where they should not be.

I also understand that it is impossible to buy all land plots at once. But over the years, having developed the proper government program, it can be done. Moreover, even these large scale budgetary charges will be covered in course of time.

Let’s imagine that the land plots are bought by a private trader. Having paid money (to my mind, not much) to the present owner and some insignificant tax to the budget, he converts the land into the object of private not state revenues. It’s another matter that the land is in the property of the state or the society. In fact, nobody forbids the latest to lease it out. And the local society knows better how to use this land, who should it be given to and where the revenues received should be spent. At the same time the state is obliged to make and adopt the law which would let this society control whether the use of land plots is efficient.

Would not such way open the door to investors? In fact, today in Ukraine dozens of powerful agrarian holdings, which cultivate land plots on a leasehold basis, have been already operating. The leasehold basis does not keep them back from serious investments. It is possible even to notice how the leasehold interest grows.