ANALYSIS: Will Ukraine abolish collective farms? (01/16/00)

ANALYSIS

Will Ukraine abolish collective farms?

RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

PRAGUE - President Leonid Kuchma on December 4, 1999, signed a decree "On Urgent Measures to Accelerate Reform of the Agricultural Sector of the Economy," which stipulates that the government and local executive bodies are obligated to reform Ukraine's collective agricultural enterprises in accordance with the "principles of land ownership" by the end of April 2000.

The decree states that all collective farm workers "have the right to freely leave [their collective farms] with land and property shares and may, on the basis of these shares, create private enterprises, private farms and agricultural cooperatives." The decree also orders the government to supply the plots' owners with private ownership certificates by the end of 2002.

The decree has provoked stormy reactions on the left wing of the Ukrainian political scene.

The Communist Party parliamentary caucus, in a statement published in the December 9 issue of Komunist, pointed out that President Kuchma signed the decree "on the eve of his visit to the United States to obtain yet another handout from the IMF."

The Communists believe that Mr. Kuchma's decree follows IMF recommendations so that land can be transferred to "mafia structures and, in one form or another, to foreigners."

Among the "unforeseen negative consequences" of the decree, the Communists mention "the destruction of the scientifically supported system of agriculture and livestock breeding farms, the ruin of integrated economic complexes, the ruin of the social sphere in the countryside, a sharp reduction in employment, further pauperization of a significant part of the population and further stratification of the population in terms of property."

As an alternative to abolition of the collective farming system and the introduction of private land ownership in Ukraine, the caucus proposes "planning and prognosticating," as well as "ensuring targeted financing and preferential crediting" in the agricultural sector. The government, according to the Communists, should reintroduce a "significant state purchase system" in the sector and eliminate the disparity in prices of agricultural and industrial products.

The Left Center parliamentary caucus, which unites deputies from the Socialist Party and the Peasant Party, said in the December 9 Tovarysh that President Kuchma's decree means "compulsory decollectivization" in Ukraine. According to the Left Center, the decree will in no way improve the situation in the agricultural sector and will result in such negative phenomena as "the dying-off of the countryside, the waste of millions of lives ... the destruction of the [country's] social sphere, and serfdom." The caucus believes that by signing this decree, the president exceeded his constitutional powers and violated a number of Ukrainian laws.

It seems that the implementation of the decree on abolishing collective farms - an issue provoking deep political, economic and moral concerns in the whole post-Soviet area - may turn out to be a touchstone for Mr. Kuchma's commitment to breaking with Ukraine's Communist past and setting his country on the path of irreversible market reform.

Commenting on the decree, Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Hladii, who is in charge of Ukraine's agro-industrial sector, told journalists that 93 percent of Ukraine's collective farms are loss-making. The land reforms launched in Ukraine in 1991, he said, "have exhausted themselves - people in many villages have not even heard about privatization vouchers, not to mention about their right to own land."

Mr. Hladii also tried to counter allegations that the decree is unconstitutional and to dispel fears that its implementation may result in an economic disaster: "The rumors that we will force collective agricultural enterprises to be disbanded are an invention," he underlined.

"People should decide on their own what work will be more advantageous for them. Each man has the right to leave his collective farm and take his share of land without any special resolutions of the collective's general meeting. This right is guaranteed in Part 2 of Article 14 of Ukraine's Constitution and may not be restricted. ...

"A landowner treats his land in a very considerate manner and will never allow its impoverishment, but nonetheless special services will be created to monitor leased or privatized land with regard to many indicators, in order to prevent, among other things, a decline in its fertility. Even if a landowner does not know how to manage his plot, he will certainly find someone who can and will lease it to him in order to make a profit," he said.

On December 10, 1999, more than 110 leftist parliamentary deputies submitted a motion to the Constitutional Court arguing that the decree on the abolition of collective farms unconstitutional.

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