On December 22, Ukraine's parliament adopted a surprisingly unanimous decision to extend the moratorium on the sale of agricultural lands until 2012. Now the ball in the president’s court – he has always considered land to be a commodity.
Glencore's agricultural interests include 300,000 hectares of land in Australia, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Russia and Ukraine.
"Already we have received a lot of interest from the UAE to invest in Ukraine's agriculture sector, and we are offering all kinds of projects such as leasing of 100,000 hectares of land to the creation of animal farms with 3000 cows," Ukraine's agriculture minister said.
Land investments in Ukraine agriculture
Acheter des terres arables à l'étranger est devenu un investissement stratégique. Va-t-on vers un dépeçage de certains pays pauvres ? Reportage "Paroles du Monde" avec des représentants d'Agter, Le Monde et Agrogénération.
"With hungry countries desperately in need of food, Ukraine land certainly provides the vehicle for a strategic investment in soft commodities." Commercial pitch for foreign investment in Ukranian farmland.
"Le pari (des financiers), au départ, était un peu le même que celui du private equity dans le monde industriel : dénicher un gisement de croissance largement sous-exploité ; le faire fructifier à l'aide d'investissements considérables et un suivi attentif ; obtenir en peu de temps des rendements sans égal – on espérait jusqu'à 400% sur les friches africaines ; décrocher la timbale, non sans redistribuer un peu et rembourser les emprunts."
"The reasons [Ukrainians] choose to lease [Landkom] their land has nothing to do with money - it is an emotional desire to see their region go forward, that's all," says Paul Spinks.
If the moratorium on agricultural land sale is lifted, rich multinational corporations will buy and it will be legislatively impossible to strip them of lands that could be used for feeding Ukrainians.
There may emerge a situation when Ukrainians will be starving in spite of having the most fertile black earth.
Greg Mason, from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, says countries and regions facing 'peak water' like China, India and the Arab states are looking to solve food shortages by growing crops in places like the Ukraine and Australia.
An investor analysis of the case for buying up farmland
