Farmland sale moratorium must be lifted before Dec 1. Zelensky says

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land must be lifted as soon as before December 1, 2019. At the meeting of parliament, Cabinet and law enforcement leaders on Monday, Sep 2, Zelensky instructed the Government by October 1 to draft a bill on farmland circulation, as well as the Verkhovna Rada – to abolish the moratorium on farmland sale by December 1, 2019. "Introduction of the land market. Developing and submitting to Parliament a draft law on the agricultural land market and lifting the moratorium on land sales. The deadline is October 1, 2019. Officials responsible are [Prime Minister] Oleksiy Honcharuk, Minister of Economy, Trade and Agriculture Tymofiy Mylovanov," Zelensky said.

He also instructed to explain to the public that "no one will take the land from anyone", and that land reform is aimed at developing Ukrainian farming, and, above all, protecting smallholders. "Adopting a law on the agricultural land market and lifting the moratorium on farmland sales. The deadline is December 1, 2019. Officials responsible are Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmytro Razumkov, head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia, and head of the committee on agrarian and land policy Mykola Solsky ", Zelensky added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had announced land reform set to be carried out this year, which would create a land market of 40 million hectares by 2020. In December last year, the Verkhovna Rada extended until 2020 the moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land in Ukraine, which had been in force since 2001. According to the World Bank, the lifting of the moratorium will bring the economy some $0.7-1.5 billion dollars annually.