02 June 2011, 13:57
Mykola Tomenko: The Way the Authorities treat Ukrainian Village and Rural People reminds of a Modern ‘Profiteer or the Spider´
At the briefing in the parliament, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that implementation of the land reform confirmed liquidation of the Ukrainian agricultural producers.
Judging by the reports from the regions, M.Tomenko singled out two dangerous signs implying that the land reform will be implemented in any case. Firstly, land lease agreements of small businesses and farmers are often denied prolongation. Thus, the lands in regions are being monopolized. The second critical sign is compiling of the so-called catalogues of underprivileged people who are ready to sell their land plots as soon as the act on land sale is adopted.
"Another disturbing tendency is that the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, dominated by the big business lobby, has not only monopolized export of grain and other foodstuffs, but also goes to great lengths to impede development of farming, small and mid-sized business," M.Tomenko stated. It is this way that he interprets the unappealable President´s veto on the Law on Organic Production.
M.Tomenko believes that such policy is anti-State and anti-national. He informed that according to figures from a recent opinion poll held by the Ukrainian Democratic Circle agency on order of the Institute of Politics, most citizens (69,8%) support holding of the all-Ukrainian referendum on extension of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural lands. The Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that all regions of Ukraine are united in their disapproval of the land sale.
Summing up, M.Tomenko expressed his concern over the situation with the Ukrainian agriculture and rural areas.
Details of the opinion poll are available at www.polityka.in.ua