The "Land Bank" project began the transformation of the Ukrainian market of state-owned agricultural land

The State Property Fund of Ukraine presented the "Land Bank" project, which is supposed to transform the market of state agricultural land and increase revenues to budgets from the use of land. According to the experts of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, "Land Bank" offers farmers the opportunity to rent state land on a transparent and competitive basis through online auctions in the "Prozorro.Prodazhi" system.

It is known that 45 auctions have already been announced in Vinnytsia, Lviv, Volyn, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhya and Odesa regions with an area of ​​2 to 262 hectares. The first auctions will be held on October 1. A total of 1,905 land plots with a total area of ​​about 100,000 hectares will be leased by the end of the year. In general, it is believed that the reform of the state land market will have a powerful economic, anti-corruption effect and great importance in supporting business. The "Land Bank" will gradually bring hundreds of thousands of hectares of state lands out of the shadows. Currently, the Fund is also working on the second pool of the "Land Bank", which will include about 250,000 hectares. Implementation of this stage of the project is planned for 2025. It is believed that the agricultural land market is one of the most competitive in the system. On average, more than three bidders compete for such lots at open online auctions. As a result of competition, the cost of renting communal land at auctions increases by almost 3.5 times. Thus, since the beginning of the reform, communities have received more than 642.2 million hryvnias annually.

We would like to add that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted draft law No. 11063-d "On the State Agrarian Register" as a whole. Adoption of the Law "On the State Agrarian Register" will contribute to the further digitization of the Ukrainian agricultural sector, which is one of the requirements of international partners. Also, the Register should become a single electronic window for communication between manufacturers and authorities.

Returning to the Land Bank, it should be noted that many consider it an opportunity for tenants to invest under transparent and clear rules on competitive market conditions. And this is necessary for the creation of new agribusinesses and an incentive for the development of those that already exist. In essence, the Land Bank is an effective way to increase investment in the agricultural sector. The project aims to create a transparent agricultural land rental market and increase budget revenues from land use. All this amounts to economic development, growth in tax revenues, job creation and effective use of resources available to the state. This, for example, is the opinion of Oleksiy Sobolev, the First Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine. In her turn, acting head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, Ivanna Smachilo, emphasized that the "Land Bank" will gradually bring hundreds of thousands of hectares of state lands out of the shadows. They did not benefit our country for decades, they were not processed properly, corruption schemes were formed around them. In contrast, competitive and open lease of land will allow to fill budgets. Estimated total revenue from renting the first pool of plots is expected to be up to UAH 1 billion. And the land resources offered by the state will stimulate farmers to develop business, create new companies or small farms.