UKRAINIAN LAND MARKET MODEL – EXCLUSIVE OR «HYBRID» OF THE LATIFUNDIST MODEL?

Abstract

The article considers topical issues of land reform in Ukraine in the context of the introduction of the Ukrainian model of the agricultural land market (AL). The purpose of the study is a comparative analysis of the official and author's models of the market turnover of ALs in order to increase the strengths and neutralize the weaknesses of the first of them and turn it into an exclusive model, rather than a copy of the worst variants of the baseline models. It is shown that the state model, which is practiced in Israel, China and other countries, is based on lease land relations - between the state, as the owner of the land, and collective agricultural enterprises, and these relations are regulated by the state land authority. It is determined that the farming model, as the most common and effective, has in its basis a private form of ownership of land, which is cultivated mainly by small and medium farms, and lease land relations are complemented by the market. And these relations, as in Poland, are regulated by state and self-governing bodies. It has been established that the latifundist model of the AL market is also based on private ownership of land, but the main market entities are not farms, but agricultural holdings. Within the framework of this model, land relations between the market entities are oriented mainly on land grabbing and are usually regulated by the general competence authorities. In general, this model is the most threatening to the food security of many countries where it is practiced, such as Madagascar, and the sustainable development of their rural areas. It is justified that the Ukrainian model of the AL market from July 21, 2021 to January 1, 2024 will have many signs of a farming model. But since then, it should not become a «hybrid» of the latifundist, but a combined version of the farm and state models. At the same time, the emphasis should be placed not on the privatization of land, but on their effective use, based on the advantages of the lease form of the land circulation, which are associated with the introduction of long-term lease, increasing its price and transferring to the electronic form.