KYIV – About 44 percent of Ukraine’s territory has been freed from a moratorium that was lifted on July 1 when agricultural land went up for sale.

After two decades of the freeze, more than 42 million hectares (103 million acres) – larger than Italy or California – is now purchasable as Ukraine left the club of the few remaining countries that don’t have a farmland market. The remaining countries are North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Belarus.