Land has a state-building function; land is our culture and mentality, our world-view and protection of a special lifestyle of millions of people and whole Ukraine.
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, made this statement, opening the parliamentary hearings "Land in the Ukrainian Destiny: Situation in the Land Sector, Legislative Support of Land Relations, and Implementation of Land Laws."
"Land is not an economic category, so it should be treated with responsibility, as it is not only the national heritage and strategic resource of Ukraine," stated the Head of the Parliament.
V.Lytvyn stressed, "Participants of the parliamentary hearings should make a responsible choice on the basis of recommendations, finding the best solution with account for the prior discussions." He calls for taking into account that the land has been divided into shares, while people have obtained the right of private ownership of land. It is necessary to follow the Constitution and the Land Code, "living in reality, not illusions."
"If the first step has been made, it should be followed by the next right step," stated the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. "The moratorium might be extended before the elections for as long as you like it, while land will be illegally purchased and sold. It is necessary to adopt clear-cut and understandable laws to achieve best results and reduce the risks."
The Head of the Parliament reminded that the legislative base on land issues includes 37 Laws of Ukraine, 64 resolutions of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 178 decrees of the President of Ukraine, 24 orders of the President of Ukraine, 84 resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and 758 normative acts.
Dwelling upon the introduction of land market, V.Lytvyn focused on the possible positive and negative consequences of it.
This will allow the land owners to choose between three options: production of agricultural commodities on their own land with further market sale, lease of land to other agricultural producer, and sale or mortgage of land as a source of income. "However, removal of the moratorium will have a great institutional importance. Today, 84 per cent of farm land and gardens, and one third of natural forage lands are in the private ownership of the rural people," informed the Head of the Parliament.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine called for valuating the land resources.
According to V. Lytvyn, one may probably refer increase of the investment capacity to the benefits of the land market introduction, namely, by the development of mortgage crediting and its positive impact on prices on the land lease market. He is convinced that development of the land market will ensure gradual concentration of land ownership to increase the land capacity of the Agrarian Fund as a taxation object.
At the same time, the Head of the Parliament mentioned possible threats and challenges of the increase of land deficit. He stated that according to the experts, "at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, new forms of colonization have appeared with the help of a seemingly civilized global land reallocation."
V. Lytvyn also focused on such dangerous factors as export orientation of produce in Ukraine, technogenic overwork and exploitation of natural productive capacity of soil.
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned facts, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deems necessary to settle the problems regarding land market participants, rules of land use, fundamental principles of the price and lease payment formation, availability of state subject institutions, employment in the agricultural industrial complex, and decentralization of agricultural production.
The legislative acts, according to Volodymyr Lytvyn, shall regulate the social problems and situation with the rural infrastructure.
"We should be aware of the fact that it is impossible to stop a general tendency in the state, although we are obliged to exert efforts to provide human rules in land games, let alone the problem of land inventory, register of land owners, land restoration and adoption of relevant decisions", summed up V. Lytvyn.