TEXT C: THE FOUNDATIONFOT IMPROVEMENT OF LAND RELATIONS

3. Combination of high economic efficiency and environmental safety of land use.

The new Land Code introduces a number constrains that may be unacceptable for countries with developed market economies. But these are transitional provisions conditioned politically first of all. The expectation is that these constrains will be lifted soon.

The impact of land reform on agricultural productivity depends on what kind of system is being reformed as well as content of the reform measures. Land reform has the greatest positive impact on productivity where the previous system was one of small peasant farms, with high rates of insecure tenancy and absentee landlords. Under such conditions reform has little impact on cultivation practices since farms are small both before and after reform. Elimination of landlords also has little effect on productivity because they have nothing to do with farming. On the other hand, turning tenants into owners provides them with a greater incentive to invest in improvements. The Chinese, Japanese and South Korean land reforms of the 1940s and 1950s were all essentially of this kind.

At the other extreme are reforms that break up large, highly efficient modern estates or farms and substitute small, inefficient producers. In many parts of the developing world, such as Mexico, Kenya, Malaysia large, highly mechanized estates using the most advanced techniques have grown up over time. The incentive inherent in the use of skilled professional estate managers. Often these estates are major suppliers of agricultural produce for export, and hence a crucial source of the developing country’s foreign exchange. If land reform breaks up these estates and turns them over to small peasant proprietors, who know little about modern techniques and lack the capital to pay for them, the impact on agricultural productivity can be catastrophic. But there are also examples, as in the Kenyan highlands, where the breakup of large estates into small peasant holding actually increased productivity, mainly because the small holdings were farmed much more intensively than the large estates.

I. Answer the questions:

1. What effort was taken in 2001 in the area of agricultural?

2. What was the major essence of the new Land Code of Ukraine?

3. Did the Land Code create the foundation for improvement of land relations in the agrarian sector or in the other spheres?

4. What did the new Land Code introduce?

5. Did achievements in land reforming yield a radical revival of agricultural production?

6. Is land lease market developing in Ukraine?

7. What does the Land Code create?

8. The new Land Code introduces a number of constraints for Ukraine. Are these constraints acceptable for countries with developed market economies?

9. What does an agricultural productivity depend on from?

10. Is the land reform always efficient?

II. Mach the words on the left with the correct definitions in the right:

III. Find as many synonyms as possible to the following words and make your own sentences with them:

To purchase - _______________________________________________________

To create - _________________________________________________________