Agricultural sector experts say the resignation of Agriculture Minister Taras Kutovyi may be due to a row in government over land reform.
Taras Kutovyi, 41, published his letter of resignation on May 23, allegedly amid disagreements in the cabinet over whether farmers should be able to sell and buy land on the open market.
Kutovyi said in his statement that he was resigning because he wants “to return to business and focus on attracting new investment to Ukraine.”
He also thanked officials, including Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, adding there are no “hidden conflicts” behind his resignation.
Experts, however, said that Kutovyi might have resigned because he had different views on the sale of land to Groysman.
The abolition of a moratorium on the sale of land is one of the key conditions Ukraine must meet to receive another portion of its four-year, $17.5 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.
While Groysman proposed to allow private individuals to buy and sell up to 200 hectares of land, Kutovyi supported selling collateral lease rights instead of granting rights to the ownership.
Kutovyi believed that the parliament wouldn’t support direct sales because of “deputies’ populism” and therefore offered to sell lease rights as an alternative.
Kutovyi didn’t respond to a request from the Kyiv Post for comment by the time of publication of this article.
But Sergey Fursa, a financial expert at Dragon Capital, told the Kyiv Post that “if Kutovyi resigned because his vision of land reform differs from the vision of the authorities, then, in general, it is a good sign.”
“The minister was pushing not the land market, but schematic emphyteusis (long-term land lease). And if his side loses, it means we still have a chance for a proper land market,” Fursa said.
Oleksiy Mushak, a member of parliament and one of the leading figures pushing for land reform by the government, told the Kyiv Post that Kutovyi was a pro-European politician capable of resigning over disagreement with policy. Kutovyi had mentioned the possibility of his resignation in early May, according to Mushak.
Groysman said on May 24 that Kutovyi’s resignation was “not a spontaneous but a thoughtful step,” adding that he was upset about Kutovyi’s decision, but that he respected it.
The prime minister also said that the new candidate for the position of agriculture minister would be named after he consults with the ruling coalition that includes the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko and the People’s Front, led by ex-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Oleg Protsenko, an agricultural expert at think tank Reanimation Package of Reforms, said that agricultural experts didn’t support either Groysman’s or Kutovyi’s proposals, but favor instead a liberal market model.
“The more open the market is, the higher the value of land, thus the more land owners benefit,” Protsenko said, adding that most farmers have signed long-term leasing contract that would prevent them from selling the land immediately, but would allow them to benefit in future.
Before coming to government, Kutovyi worked as a financial director at the investment company XXI Century. He was also a manager at Rise, a large distributor of seeds, fertilizer and farm machinery, and he was managing director of the Ukrainian branch of the analytical company A1 Global Holdings Limited.
Kutovyi became a lawmaker in 2012 as a member of UDAR party led by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. In 2014 he became a deputy head of the dominant faction in parliament led by the president. Two years later he entered the cabinet formed by Groysman.
