On March 21, 2013, Natalia Dotsenko-Belous, counsellor with VKP's Real Estate and Land Law Practice, took part in the Press Conference on “Land Issues for Farmers: Will They Have Time for Sowing?”

The conference was organized by the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club. The event was also attended by executives of leading agricultural associations: Alex Lissitsa, president, and Volodymyr Lapa, general manager of the Association “Ukrainian Agribusiness Club”, Mykola Mirkevich, president of the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, and Gennadiy Novikov, Chairman of the Agrarian Union of Ukraine.

Event participants considered the most pressing problems that threaten the success of the enterprises operating in the agricultural sector of Ukraine. In particular, they focused on the implementation of the new methodology of regulatory and monetary valuation of land, land development projects and the development of registration of agricultural land and lease rights.

In her speech, Natalia Dotsenko-Belous highlighted the issues of registration reform, the essence of which is to create a unified system of registration of real property rights and land, related encumbrances, and explained the procedure of registration of property rights to land and the challenges associated with this process.

“Land assets are most vulnerable. This is largely due to the presence of legal grounds for involuntary termination of property rights, as well as the grounds for cancellation of the cadastre number of the land plot, which could lead to the dissolution of the land and the loss of the rights to it,” – said Mrs Dotsenko-Belous.

Mass-media representatives present at the event were particularly interested in the abolition of preferential tax treatment of the agricultural sector. According to them the abolition of tax relief will inevitably lead to a significant reduction in agricultural production and a general deterioration of the social situation in the village. “Farms will be forced to reduce, and in some cases stop the agricultural production all together, which is going to have a negative effect not only on the economy but also on the social situation of the population”, – said Volodymyr Lapa, general manager of the Association “Ukrainian Agribusiness Club”.

During the press conference, the experts agreed on the need to stimulate the development of the agricultural sector to ensure a stable increase in agricultural production, and therefore all agreed to develop a proposals aimed at resolving these problematic issues.