Post-Soviet land ownership in Ukraine

When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, all land was the state’s property, with farmers working on state and collective farms. In the 1990s, guided and supported by the IMF and other international institutions, the government privatised much of Ukraine’s farmland. It distributed certificates that individual workers could use to obtain ownership of a discrete plot of land. However, amid a nationwide economic collapse, many resold their certificates, beginning a process that resulted in the growing concentration of land in the hands of a new oligarchic class.

To stop this process, the government instituted a moratorium in 2001, which halted further privatisations of state-owned land and prevented almost all private land transfers, with a few exceptions, such as inheritance. Although the moratorium was meant to be temporary, it was extended multiple times due to the failure of the Verkhovna Rada and multiple presidential administrations to pass and implement legal reforms that would allow for creating a more equitable land tenure system.

41 million hectares, or about 96 % of agricultural land in Ukraine, were subject to the moratorium. Around 68 % were demarcated into specific plots), with about seven million small landowners in the country.

While the moratorium prevented further purchases of land, farmland could still be leased. Many small landowners leased their land to both domestic and foreign corporations. The state also auctioned off leases for extensive amounts of the land it owns. President Zelensky’s government has claimed that at least five million of over ten million hectares of state-owned land was illegally privatized under previous administrations.

The usual suspects: IMF, World Bank, USAID – The enablers of plunder by Anglo-Zionist hegemon and subordinated Euro-Nazi-Satanists

Beware of Western vultures with fancy names such as IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank, and USAID, as well as their REFORMS. Can anyone name one single country of the Global South helped by these “international” organisations? I know you could not. However, it could not be stated loudly till recently.

According to the International Trade Administration, Ukraine is one of the most fertile places on the planet, with 25-30 percent of the world’s black soil reserves. With over 41 million hectares of agricultural land, covering 70 percent of the country, agriculture is Ukraine’s largest export industry. Unfortunately, the absence of a functioning, private land market; limited investment in the agricultural sector; and corruption in land management, have impeded agricultural growth, prevented landowners and communities from effectively managing their resources, and deepened rural poverty. 

USAID AGRO teamed up with several private-sector professional associations, including the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities and the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, to draft and advocate for a comprehensive package of laws that foster land reform and fight corruption in land management. Finally, after 19 years of restrictions, the moratorium on land sales was lifted on July 1, 2021.

The outcome of the land reform in Ukraine

Cargill, Monsanto and Dupont (investors – Vanguard, Blackrock and Blackstone) own 40% of Ukraine’s arable land. Ukraine received a $17 billion loan from the IMF for permission to sell land. Offices of all three corporations were opened in Kiev. GMA-Monsanto Corporation directly and through a number of intermediary companies already in 2022 owned 78% of the land fund of Sumy region, 56% of Chernihiv, 59% of Kherson and 47% of Mykolaiv region, She also has 34% of the land in the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions pledged.

Also in 2013, the South China Morning Post reported that China (represented by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) had acquired 3 million hectares of Ukrainian land — the size of Belgium “leased for 99 years with the right of redemption.” “28% of Ukraine’s arable land is owned by a mixture of Ukrainian oligarchs, European and North American corporations, as well as the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.” The scientists also reported that the owners of Ukrainian (on paper) agricultural holdings “have long been American NCH Capital, French AgroGeneration, German ADM Germany, KWS, Bayer and BASF, Saudi PIF and SALIC.”

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It is about territory

1. Russian goals for the Special Military Operation are not about landgrab and expansion of their country, which is already the biggest in the world. However, I would be surprised if they were not aware of the land grab by Western investors.
2. Russia might be fighting for the protection of agricultural land from being poisoned by GMOs. It is certainly not the primary goal of the operation but a welcome collateral. Giving some of the best quality soil to the likes of Monsanto, Bayer, and BASF is a threat to food security.