AgroInvest Project

USAID AGROINVEST’S INTEGRATED APPROACH TO HELP UKRAINIANS

PROTECT THEIR LAND RIGHTS

ERIC BLEICH, MARYNA ZARYTSKAUSAID AgroInvest Project, USA, Ukraine

Washington DC, March 26, 2015

AgroInvest Project

Ukraine’s land

• Land is Ukraine’s main asset • ~ 100 million acres• Fertile soil

• 7 million own ~10-acre land plots

• About 10 companies operate 1.2 million acres each but do not own land

AgroInvest Project

Ukraine’s land reform

• Land reform • launched more than 20 years ago • land market is still a moving target

• Main aspects:Moratorium on agricultural land sales until 2016Regular legislation changes Small landowners not able protect their land rights

AgroInvest Project

Problems that make legal land rights services especially acute in Ukraine

• Complexity, inconsistency, and rapid changes in the land-related legal framework

• State bodies unable to comply with laws• Officials (village mayors, judges, state registrars,

notaries) lacking adequate understanding of land legislation

• Lack of access to information• High level of corruption• Landowners/land users’ low level of legal literacy and

knowledge

AgroInvest Project

Why protection of land rights is an issue

CURRENT ISSUES• Landowners (70 percent of

whom are pensioners), need information concerning their current lease contracts:

• how to terminate agreements secured under false pretenses?

• how to enforce lease terms?

FUTURE ISSUES To sell or not to sell (costs and

benefits of selling or keeping land)

• If to sell, whom to sell to?• How to sell (pre-emptive rights issue)?• How to price?

BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER MORATORIUM IS LIFTED:

Whom to turn to for objective, qualified, legal advice?

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A Case Study• A company leases land plots from private

plot owners, does not pay the rent, does not farm. Why? Because they rented the land not for farming but in anticipation of the land market as they think they will be in a better position to buy it if they lease it.

• The land deteriorates.

• Landowners are unhappy. They cannot terminate their lease agreements as the company does not agree to this. They rented out the same land to another farmer.

• The farmer paid a fair rent rate upfront, removed the weeds, planted sugar beets.

• The company blocks the farmer’s tractors in the field and a conflict begins

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Data collection  Study Purpose Type Who did it?

1. Review of Past Experience

To identify the most relevant tools and elements of design of the Legal Land Rights Services Program

Expert poll, desk research

USAID AgroInvest

2. World Bank Land Governance and Assessment Framework (LGAF)

To assess various aspects of land governance in Ukraine

To identify areas for intervention

Expert assessment

USAID AgroInvest in tandem with the World Bank

3. Survey on Land Rights Awareness

To measure the awareness of citizens of their land rights, land reform, and its impact on their rights, and choices they have to effectively manage their land;

To identify messages for the Awareness Building Campaign

Sociological survey

USAID AgroInvest in partnership with the Center of Social Expertizes; National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

AgroInvest Project

Review of past experience

• Identified issues and results of past efforts

• Identified target audiences

• Stakeholder analysis

• Suitable tools

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Issues of past effortsStrengths Gaps Elements to fill the gaps

The central office of ULTI provided overall guidance and developed handouts

The initiative lacked a patent national-level element needed to support the operation of the legal aid centers and also accumulate and process knowledge gathered at the oblast level

Establishment of a Resource Center to support the legal-aid centers

Legal-aid centers operated across Ukraine

ULTI-funded legal-aid centers were developed specifically for the implementation of the project and closed once the funding was discontinued

Engaging existing providers of legal assistance and providing them capacity building grants

A massive awareness campaign supported the ULTI initiative

ULTI did not attempt to solve the problems encountered at the local level through a dedicated activity aiming to develop necessary legislative changes

Designing the Resource Center in such a way that it is able to undertake developing and advocating legislative changes

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Our primary target audiencesPPHs and households

• 17 million• possess land titles for plots

from 1 to 7 hectares • produce about 32% of all

agricultural products • land is the main source of income

for many of them

• ONCE MORATORIUM IS LIFTED: – most likely will give up their land, – lose their livelihoods, and – sell their land for less than its

value

Farmers• 41 thousand• own on average 50 hectares of

own land and rent from 1,000 to 10,000 ha, employing several PPHs

• produce 4% percent of all agricultural products

• are well organized • working capital is mainly to run the

farm, buy inputs, and pay, to the degree possible, their workers.

• ONCE MORATORIUM IS LIFTED: – they can lose the land they rent – leave with excess machinery– not all will have the requisite funds

to keep the land they rent or maintain

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Tools• Printed media • TV and radio• Printed materials• Round tables• Workshops and conferences• Phone consultations• Q&A via Internet• Establishment of Project-sponsored legal advice

centers• Use of existing legal services providers • Free-of-charge legal services by local lawyers

AgroInvest Project

World Bank Land Governance and Assessment Framework (LGAF)

• Done in partnership with World Bank in 201-2012• Areas covered:

Legal and Institutional Framework Land Use Planning, Management and Taxation Management of Public Land Public Provision of Land Information Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management Large-Scale Acquisition of Land Forestry

• Findings and recommendations widely discussed and presented to the government of Ukraine

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Baseline survey

Goals: – Collecting baseline data– Informing the design of the information campaign

• messages and • preferred information channels

– Measuring awareness of citizens: • land rights, land reform, impact on rights, and choices to effectively

manage land – Identifying problems faced by producers to find best solutions to

address these problems

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Conducted in 13 out of 25 Oblasts of Ukraine

Baseline survey

5,164 respondents:- 3,891 owners of land units; - 1,273 farmers (heads of

individual farms) and managers of agricultural enterprises (AEs));

7 focus group interviews in oblasts

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Main findings of baseline survey– 10% of land share owners are unemployed;

43% - over 60 years; only 12 cultivated land themselves; 80% - lease out – Only 21% of owners of shares and 27% of SMPs supported the lifting of

the moratorium – 85% of respondents rated their awareness level as insufficient – 80% of respondents did not know the recommended amount of rent

payments– 60% of respondents felt helpless when concluding lease agreements– 66% of respondents were not satisfied with the level of rent– Every second land conflict was a conflict with tenants – Every third land conflict was a conflict with government– Every tenth land conflict was a conflict with the village head

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Attitude to the moratorium lifting, %

Positive Neutral Negative No opinion0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

20.7

15.0

58.5

5.9

26

15.1

56.1

2.8

27.9

13.1

56.8

2.2

Land unit owners Farmers Managers

Reasons:• Government revenues• Development of farming• New Investors• Opportunity to buy land rather than

lease• Possibility to sell the land if they do

not want to farm themselves

Reasons:Economic:• “Foreign" owners• Big capital will displace farmers• Enrichment of the wealthy people• Failure to observe crop rotation ->

loss of fertility• Misuses• Reduced rent• Inability to compete with foreigners• Fragmentation • Inflation due to unemployed getting

money from sale of landSocial:• Decline of the rural areas• Failure to protect land rights• Job cuts• Decline of social area• Decline of consumer infrastructure• Land conflicts

16

AgroInvest Project

17

Lease out; 79.3

Farm themselves;

12.0

None; 8.6

Use of land units owned by the respondents, %

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Бачив свою землю Стояв на своїй земл0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

9.50912361860704 0

27.7

25.4

30.5

32.2

32.342.4

Щодня Iнколи впродовж рокуПонад рiк тому НiколиNever

Direct link and awareness of land unit owners regarding their property, %

18

I saw my land plot I was at my land plot

Daily

More than a year ago

Sometimes during the year

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Знають нормативну оцінку

Знають мінімальну орендну плату

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

9.920.5

Так Ні

Awareness of land share owners about value of land and rent, %

19Yes No

Respondent knows the normative value

Respondent knows the minimum rent payment

AgroInvest Project

Level of awareness on land issues, %The difference in the levels of awareness is caused by varying degrees of relevance of issues. The more pressing the problem, the greater awareness. Therefore, managers/famers show the highest level of awareness.

20

Власники паїв Фермери Керівники0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

16

53 5725

33 3159

14 13

Достатньо Недостатньо Мінімально

Land unit owners Farmers Managers

Sufficiently Insufficiently Minimum level of awareness

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Importance of information sources for land unit owners, %

21

Телебачення

Родичі, друзі Газети, журнали

Сільський голова

Орендар Радіо Депутати місц. ради

Інтернет0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

59 57 48 43 34 28 19 14

21 2424

2121

2018

8

20 1929 36 45 51

6379

Важливе джерело Посереднє Неважливе джерело

Local council members

Lessee Internet

Average

RadioTV Family, friends Printed media

Village head

Important source

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Integrated approach

Information and

Outreach Campaign

Legal Land Rights

Services Program

AgroInvest Project

Information campaign

TV/radio programs

National Agrarian & Land Press Club

Video/radio spots

Press tours

Baseline survey

Collected baseline data

Helped fine-tune

messages

Helped select best

communications channels

As a result: 460 journalists trained’Over 1500 publications Information support to legislative initiatives

AgroInvest Project

Legal Land Rights Services Program

384 public events, 9,000 rural landowners and local officials

13,000 rural landowners received consultations

33,000 handouts

741 land conflicts resolved

51,000 land deeds

• Road maps• Support to Web portal• Info materials for campaign• Training for state registrars, etc.• Coaching for Law Centers• Legislative initiatives

Resource Center &

Web Portal

Law Centers

Resource

Center & Web-portal

• Ensure continuous monitoring of land-related problems and summarize them for decision makers

AgroInvest Project

Results to-date:

• Role of local lawyers/consultants as a source of information increased from less than 1% to 21%

• Role of tenants as a source of information decreased from 62% to 35%

• Role of local authorities (who received training) increased from 36% to 46%

• Role of “word of mouth” increased to 50% suggesting that information shared by lawyers at the community meetings is further spread among the community members

AgroInvest Project

Keys to success

• Initiate changes at both the local and national levels• Two way flow of information:

– From Law Centers – to inform Resource Center about issues

– From Resource Center to decision makers – to help solve issues through legislative changes and to general public on the legislative changes

• Use existing providers instead of creating from scratch

• Involve local authorities• Ensure information support through media