Land reform and farm restructuring in Ukraine

Under legislation adopted in 1992, Ukrainian law recognizes private ownership of agricultural land, as well as collective and state ownership. Also in 1992, a program to transfer land from state ownership to collective and individual ownership was initiated on a large scale, along with procedures to restructure collective and state farms. The impact of these developments at the farm level is examined in the present study by evaluating responses of 2500 participants in the process. The share of state-owned land shrank from 100% in 1991 to only 35% in January 1994, but most of the land remains in collective tenure. Three-quarters of large farm enterprises in Ukraine reorganized, but the preferred new form is that of limited liability partnership or collective enterprise. Most employees at present do not seek to leave the collective to start a private farm. Distribution of farm products is still dominated by state procurement, which is the main outlet for both large-scale farms and private farmers. Input supply is similarly dominated by the state, although private suppliers are beginning to emerge. Further progress toward improved efficiency in Ukrainian agriculture requires continued restructuring of farm enterprises into smaller autonomous units based on private ownership of land and assets development of land markets, and establishment of functioning market infrastructure for competitive input supply, marketing services, and financial services. -from Authors