At the 20th extraordinary session of the Lviv Regional Council on 28 December, councillors adopted a resolution stating that raising the limit on the permissible size of agricultural land plots owned by a single individual is unacceptable.

The regional councillors addressed this appeal to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy.

In the appeal, in particular, the deputies expressed concern over changes to the conditions governing the transfer of agricultural land from 2024.

‘From the very first days of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the agricultural sector has become the foundation and driving force of the national economy, providing over 50 per cent of the country’s total foreign exchange earnings, ensuring national and global food security, and providing daily support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

At a time when Ukrainian farmers are facing perhaps the most difficult challenges in the entire history of independent Ukraine – constantly suffering financial and physical losses due to blocked ports, destroyed production facilities, and shelled and mined Ukrainian fields where machinery and workers are regularly blown up – – they continue to work and fight on the front line, just like soldiers, defending literally every inch of Ukrainian soil.

Unfortunately, the inability to export produce has led to a reduction in Ukrainian farmers’ liquidity. Without the level of subsidy support seen in EU countries (pre-war subsidies accounted for an average of up to 2 per cent of the Ukrainian agri-food sector’s profits, compared to nearly 20 per cent in EU countries) and given the catastrophic decline in the sector’s profitability, domestic farmers have faced a crisis of insufficient working capital and consumables for the sowing campaign and subsequent field work, which will inevitably affect the 2023 harvest results.

Despite the agreements between the participants in the ‘grain initiative’, there was a constant blocking of ship inspections by the Russian Federation, as a result of which the export of agri-food products from Ukraine during the year the agreement was in force was under threat of being halted, and ultimately, according to a statement by the Russian side, its operation was completely suspended on 17 July 2023.

The next stage of land reform, set to begin in 2024, presents a new challenge for domestic farmers. It should be noted that from next year, the limit on the amount of agricultural land held by a single owner will increase from the current 100 to 10,000 hectares, and the sale of land to legal entities will be permitted. At a time when domestic agricultural producers have been operating at a complete loss for the second year running, due to existing logistical problems and low domestic prices for agricultural produce, increasing this limit will bring no practical benefit to small and medium-sized agricultural producers. They simply do not have the funds to purchase agricultural land.

In fact, under current conditions, such an increase in the limit on agricultural land ownership can only benefit those companies that are able to secure financing abroad, through loans, bond issues, etc., i.e. a small number of agricultural companies. The rest of the agricultural producers will remain deprived of this opportunity at least until the end of the war.

In order to maintain balance and ensure equal rights for all Ukrainian farmers without exception, we, the members of the Lviv Regional Council, oppose raising the limit on the permissible amount of land owned by a single person from the current 100 to 10,000 hectares in a single hand from 2024, however, we do not object to legal entities being allowed access to the market, as according to the Land Code of Ukraine, the owners of such legal entities (purchasing land) may only be citizens of Ukraine. At the same time, we propose maintaining the limit of 100 hectares per person for both legal entities and individuals until the end of the war and for a further two years after victory,” reads the statement from the Lviv Regional Council.