Kuchma calls for farm sector reforms

KYIV - Ukraine, once the breadbasket of Europe, must introduce tough farm reforms to overcome bad harvests and regain its place as an agricultural powerhouse, Reuters quoted President Leonid Kuchma as saying at a conference of the agricultural sector on December 27, 1995.

"Ukraine has every chance to become a world leader in agricultural production in the near future. In Soviet times, Ukraine was a world leader," said Mr. Kuchma to participants, who included Cabinet ministers and senior industry officials.

President Kuchma organized the conference to outline a plan to rescue the farm sector, caught in downward spiral since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Collective farms, cut off from most state subsidies for fuel, seed and fertilizers, face declining yields and many are virtually bankrupt. The 1995 grain harvest was 36 million tons - just 500,000 tons more than last year's drought-damaged crop and nearly 10 million tons less than 1993.

The draft plan for revitalizing agriculture emphasizes more state support for exporters, lower taxes and foreign investment. It avoids radical reforms, instead envisaging gradually privatizing land and transforming Soviet-style collective farms into joint-stock companies.

A Western industry analyst who attended the conference told Reuters he was disappointed that none of the speakers discussed more radical reforms such as full land privatization. President Kuchma admitted that there was little consensus on how to restructure the agricultural sector when he said, with the farm sector there are more questions than answers."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 7, 1996, No. 1, Vol. LXIV

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