Ukraine: Agrarstrukturen im Umbruch

Abstract

Since the start of the nineties, a democratisation of the social and economic relations has taken place in the Ukraine, even affecting the agricultural sector. Laws and regulations were passed for the privatisation and allocation of the state and cooperative-owned property - in particular the land, but also the dead and the living stock of the former agricultural cooperatives. The privatisation and reorganisation of the former kolkhozes and sovkhozes took place with the goal of maintaining the favourable competitive proportions of the farms. Reorganised cooperatives and state-owned companies still control the majority of the agricultural resources, these being the land, the structural facilities, the agricultural technology and the livestock. The reformed companies are pr incipally co-operatives, but also joint-stock companies, limited companies and privately-owned individual farms. The individual minor production by the rural population has experienced considerable growth in land utilisation, upkeep of livestock and product manufacturing. Consequently, the majority of the potato, vegetable and fruit production is provided by this group of producers. The extraordinary drop in producti on in the process of reorganisation, which, in the case of milk and meat produce, has not yet reached rock bottom, is essentially a result of the loss of production in the larger companies. A reason for this is the considerable deficits in the organisation of the companies and the motivation of the employees. In particular, this reveals itself in the continued existence of the obsolete trading and administrative systems, as well as in the continued restrictions on the individual availability of property, as well as in the remuneration of the owners which is hardly a source of motivation.