The most comprehensive land resources database was launched in Ukraine

“Monitoring of land relations in Ukraine, 2016-2017: open land resources data” will become accessible to everyone. The monitoring will contain 65 indicators from six government agencies, writes “Agro-Center”.

Annual monitoring was established within the framework of the project in support of agricultural reforms. The World Bank and the European Union consider this step to be a very positive change in Ukraine.

In 2016, the first research was published. Then, the 2013-2015 data analysis was collected. However, previously, there was no detailed information in open access that could systematize all reports on land relations that came from local authorities to different departments. Today, monitoring data can be accessed through the website. In the future, researchers plan to automate it.

The main tasks of the database are to improve the exchange of information between the authorities, make it accessible to the public and increase the level of investment in the agricultural sector.

Olena Kovaleva, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, noted that monitoring allows every citizen to receive information on trends in the development of land relations.

Today, the public has access to information on the creation of united local communities and the transfer of land to communal property.

Elena Kovaleva considers the data obtained as a result of monitoring to be an analytical platform.

“Today, we have a land reform, which lasts for 28 years. As a result, we have 27 million hectares of private land and 10 million hectares, which fell under the moratorium in 2004, owned by the state. There’s a potential that can be used. Creating a database is the key to making the right management decisions. We must prepare for a land reform, provide society with information and ensure transparency at all levels,”

said Olena Kovaleva.

Satu Kahkonen, Regional Head of the World Bank in Ukraine, considers land reform to be one of the critical issues Ukraine has to implement.

“Transparency is extremely important in the agrarian sector. The information must be automated,”

says Sakha Kahkonen.

In her opinion, such information can overcome corruption in land relations and also come in handy after the abolition of the moratorium on land sales.

The European Union spokesperson, Christian Ben Gell, noted that the EU supports Ukraine in the implementation of the land reform.
“This monitoring is important. It will be available to government authorities as well as to the private sector. We believe the research will inform about land resources and be able to help an investor make the right choice,” says Gell.

However, during the monitoring, experts found that some of the information from the regions is not timely, unregistered or duplicated. The reference work is the most comprehensive database on the state of land relations in Ukraine.