The Ukraine Recovery Conference – which was originally planned as the 5th Ukraine Reform Conference – was held on 4-5 July 2022 in Lugano, Switzerland, and brought together a thousand participants from more than 40 countries and numerous international organizations. The National Recovery Council, set-up by the President of Ukraine, has presented the draft of Ukraine’s Recovery and Development Plan, which covers the 2022-2032 period and is estimated at 750 billion USD (excluding funding for security and military expenditures). The plan is divided into three phases – wartime economy (2022), post-war recovery (2023-2025) and new economy (2026-2032) – and includes 850 projects within 15 national programs in various spheres of the economy and public life. With this plan, the government of Ukraine intends to rebuild Ukraine as a strong European country directed at modernization, the implementation of European integration reforms, the introduction of green technologies, enforcement of the rule of law, and enhancing transparency and accountability throughout the recovery process. These intentions are also reflected in the adopted Lugano Declaration, signed by all participants of the conference.
A year later, on 21-22 June 2023, the second Ukraine’s Recovery Conference was held in London, U.K.. World leaders, together with international financial institutions, business representatives, and civil society organizations, discussed the progress of the Ukraine Recovery and Development Plan and ways to mobilize international support for the economic and social recovery of Ukraine, primarily focusing on the participation of the private sector in the reconstruction process. About 60 billion USD of new funds have been pledged by partners in the short to medium term, of which 50 billion euro comes from the European Commission (under the Ukrainian Facility program) in the form of concessional loans, grants, and confiscated assets of the Russian Federation.
Although the Recovery and Development Plan includes more than a dozen national programs, the government of Ukraine will focus on the five most important areas in the nearest future, with agriculture being one of them. The working group, “New Agrarian Policy”, was established as part of the National Recovery Council and developed a detailed roadmap for the restoration of the agricultural sector of Ukraine.
Like Ukraine’s Recovery and Development Plan, the New Agrarian Policy is divided into three phases. The first phase, which was scheduled for 2022, was aimed at maintaining the economic potential of the agro-industrial complex12 by: 1) Ensuring food security through the abolition of certain taxes, simplified regulation, and financial support to agribusiness; 2) Building new supply routes, increasing exports, and optimizing internal logistics – those urgent policy measures discussed earlier.
The second phase (2023-2025) is aimed at restoration of the economic potential of the agro-industrial complex to the pre-war level and attracting investment in agriculture, in particular, in agricultural infrastructure. It includes various mechanisms for stimulating private investments, maintaining the purchasing power of the population through a reduction in the VAT rate for food, “unshadowing” of agricultural production (formalization of the informal food economy and registration of all producers as market operators), development of a cooperative system, diversification of logistics, and carrying out land restoration.
The third phase (2026-2032) is focused on improving the economic performance of agribusiness, diversifying export risks, and radically improving the efficiency of land use. It includes stimulating the processing of agricultural raw materials (primarily grains and oilseeds), building seed plants, supporting the domestic production of agricultural machinery and equipment, and developing the Danube River traffic as an efficient way to access Central and Western European markets. This phase also includes support for organic agriculture, implementation of the EU Green Deal requirements and further adjustment of Ukrainian agricultural policies in accordance with the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine.
The New Agrarian Policy has been criticized by private farmer organizations, civil society, and the academic community for aiming at restoring the pre-war production and economic model of globalized export-oriented agriculture. By focusing on increasing production volumes, land-use efficiency and the development of new export destinations, the New Agrarian Policy does not take into account the interests of family farmers and rural households and calls into question the goals of sustainable and fair development. In particular, the proposed plan lacks any programs aimed at maintaining and developing localized food systems that are socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable and, as the war showed, more resilient in times of major disturbances and the key to the country's food security.
Furthermore, the plan does not answer the question of how Ukrainian agriculture should be restored in order to improve the quality of life of Ukrainian citizens in terms of providing them with high-quality and safe food and improving their access to the benefits of the countryside and ecosystem services (clean environment, ecological tourism, traditional food products, etc.). The plan is also insufficiently focused on the full implementation of the European Green Deal’s "From Farm to Fork" and "Biodiversity" strategies, which aim to develop a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. These aspects are critical to address the climate and environmental crisis, in which agriculture plays a major role.
In a Recommendation Note regarding the New Agrarian Policy submitted to the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 06 May 2022, the Institute of Economics and Forecasting of the NAS of Ukraine argued that in order to restore war losses in the field of agriculture and rural development, guarantee domestic food security and improve rural wellbeing, Ukrainian agriculture should be reorganized based on the UN Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (2012), the Global Action Plan for the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028), the FAO Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (2014), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2018), as well as the European Green Deal: the New Farm to Fork & Biodiversity Strategies. Together with the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, academics proposed the creation of a separate working group, “Protection of the Rights of Peasants and Family Farms”, as part of the National Recovery Council to address the interests of local small-scale food producers and consumers. However, their initiative was not appreciated by the policy makers and was not implemented.
This did not stop the activists, and they continued to advocate for the interests of family farmers and rural households in Ukraine’s recovery process. In October-November 2022, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, with the support of FAO, USAID and the German NGO Austausch e.V., organized three regional round tables and a two-day Public Forum “Small Peasant Farms and Farming Households in Wartime and Post-War Reconstruction of Ukraine: Political Dialogue”. These events provided opportunities for small-scale farmers from different regions of Ukraine to express their opinion on the Recovery and Development Plan, as well as to develop a Resolution to the Government of Ukraine with concrete recommendations to different state authorities.
The resolution required the President of Ukraine to guarantee the constitutional rights of the Ukrainian people for affordable, quality, and safe food, and to secure the interests of family farmers and rural households in agrarian policies during wartime and in the post-war period. The authors of the resolution insist that agricultural policies be developed in consultation with Ukrainian family farmers’ organizations and in accordance with the aforementioned policies and guidelines outlined in the Recommendation Note. Moreover, the President was asked to approve and guarantee a 10% quota for small-scale agricultural producers in the international grain trade as part of the Humanitarian Program “Grain from Ukraine”, initiated by the President of Ukraine and implemented in partnership with the World Food Program.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was asked to suspend the liberalization of the farmland market in the wartime and post-war period until the legal, organizational, and financial mechanisms are created that enable family farmers and rural households to participate under fairer terms in the buying of land. The Rada was also asked to recognize the important role of family farms and rural households in domestic food security, and legally define the categories of small-, medium-, and large-scale agricultural producers. Furthermore, the authors of the resolution suggest creating a State Agency of Land Real Estate in Agriculture (Land Bank) for redistribution of farmland for development as a way to address the damage and loss of fertility incurred during wartime. The Rada was also asked to revise an unpopular law “on Agricultural Cooperation", which currently only benefits large agribusiness, and to create a favorable legal and institutional framework for family farmers and rural households in wartime and the post-war period.
The Cabinet of Ministers was asked to establish a National Agency as the central executive body to manage agricultural and rural development programs in order to increase the potential of family farms and preserve rural lifestyles, using the existing tools and cooperation within the EU-Ukraine Twinning program. The Cabinet is also asked to develop and adopt the State Program for the Development of Family Farms and Rural Households, and Food Self-Sufficiency of Citizens, Including Displaced Persons, for the period up to 2030, and to develop mechanisms for flexible assessment and reimbursement of losses (direct and indirect) from the war with adequate compensation provided to family farmers and rural households. Furthermore, the Cabinet is called upon to support the transition to agroecological farming by adapting agroecological models of BILIM (which is a knowledge exchange platform on agroecological methods) and the food sovereignty approach championed by the international peasants’ movement La Via Campesina and allies. Additionally, demands are made to protect and strengthen the production of domestic seed material and animal breeding programs, and enhance rural cooperation, including agricultural credit cooperatives, that meet the needs of small producers and are in line with EU practices. And finally, an All-Ukrainian Agricultural Census should be conducted to inform the development of a scientifically based differentiated agricultural policy.
The resolution was sent to all three levels of Ukrainian government and was widely circulated in the Ukrainian media, but no state policy adjustments have been made in response to the above recommendations. To continue advocating for private farming in Ukraine’s reconstruction programs, activists intend to organize a new Public Forum of Peasants, Farmers and Smallholders in December 2023, which will be dedicated to the implementation of an integrated approach based on respect for the rights of peasants (including land rights) in the programs of the post-war reconstruction of the agri-food system of Ukraine. In addition, they actively engage with international organizations, especially those that may influence the terms of Ukraine's association with the EU and its future membership, so that they can push the Ukrainian government to implement the paradigm of sustainable agrarian and rural development, focused on human rights.
Although the government of Ukraine is clearly oriented towards large-scale agribusiness and pursues a neoliberal agricultural policy, it has to respond to some extent to the demands of civil and academic organizations representing the interests of family farmers and rural households. Moreover, the government of Ukraine has an obligation to bring Ukrainian legislation and policies in line with EU and international standards, which should require additional efforts to improve the sustainability of Ukrainian agriculture, enhance the diversity of farming models (especially family-based agriculture), and promote rural development.
The Ukrainian government is currently facing a major dilemma: whether to continue to support the large-scale, export-oriented agricultural model, which is seen by many policy makers as a way to reconstruct and rebuild the country after the war, or to refocus on the family-based farming that is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable and more resilient in times of crisis. The political response to this uneasy question will determine the future of Ukrainian agriculture and rural areas in the years to come.