Specificity and transparency of transformation of agricultural relations in central and eastern Europe Cover Image

Специфіка і закономірності трансформації аграрних відносин в країнах Центрально-Східної Європи
Specificity and transparency of transformation of agricultural relations in central and eastern Europe

Author(s): Olga Shulga
Subject(s): National Economy, Agriculture, Regional Geography
Published by: Університет Григорія Сковороди в Переяславі
Keywords: agrarian sector; privatization; liberalization; structural adjustment of the economy; relations of ownership of land; contradictions;

Summary/Abstract: Agrarian transformations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have both common features and national peculiarities. Studying the experience of market reforms in the agrarian sector of these countries is important for revealing the tendencies and patterns of transformation of agrarian relations, as it will allow to develop a well-balanced strategy and tactics of further market reforms in the agrarian sector of Ukraine and more fully take into account the negative factors that took place in the conditions of transformation processes in agriculture in countries with economies in transition.The subject of the study is the patterns and contradictions in the formation of a new system of economic relations in the agrarian sector of transition economies as a result of its market transformation. To clarify and disclose these questions, dialectical and systematic approaches, historical method, methods of analysis and synthesis, generalizations, and others were used. The purpose of the article is to find out the specifics and regularities of the transformation of agrarian relations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, to determine the contradictions of the transformations carried out.Conducting agrarian reforms in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe can be divided into three periods: at the first stage - the strategic task was the structural reform of the agricultural sector, which was based on the privatization of land; at the second stage there was a radical change in the direction of internal agricultural policy in the direction of policy of maintaining prices and markets, export and import restrictions; At the third stage (and in some countries it has already taken place), preparations for accession to the EU took place. The purpose of agrarian reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe was to transform the agrarian sector of their national economies into a market-oriented sector of the economy. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: privatization of land and reorganization of former agricultural enterprises, structural adjustment of the agrarian sector; liberalization of markets, privatization in related branches of the agro-industrial complex, formation of market infrastructure; formation of a new state agro-food policy.The content and results of the reforms carried out to a large extent, especially at the first stage, were determined by the starting conditions that differed in certain countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The common results of agrarian transformations in almost all countries were: the establishment of multi-layered forms of ownership and forms of management in the countryside; the introduction of a land market controlled by the state; reducing the share of agriculture in the production of gross domestic product in national economies and reducing the share of employed in the production of agricultural products, etc.The analysis of the content and results of the agrarian reforms carried out in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe allows us to draw the following conclusions regarding the patterns of transformation of agrarian relations: in countries where the restitution took place, there was a delay in the land reform and slowing down of structural reform; more favorable starting positions for privatization of land and structural reform of the agrarian sector were the country where privatization in other sectors took place before the agrarian reform, and agrarian transformations began already under the condition of macroeconomic stabilization; general regularity for these countries was a slower reform of state-owned enterprises compared to collective ones; the success of the reform was largely determined by the degree of recognition of the need and nature of the reforms of the rural population; after the structural reform in the agrarian sectors of these countries there has developed a bimodal structure of management with a different share of small and large farms; аs a result of agrarian transformations in most countries, both the share of agriculture in the gross domestic product of countries and the share of employed in the industry decreased; the effectiveness of the reform processes depends to a large extent on institutional transformations in the economy and society; the success of agrarian reform depends on the consistency, complexity and systematic nature of the reform measures and the overall macroeconomic situation in the country, and so on.

  • Issue Year: 1/2018
  • Issue No: 36
  • Page Range: 175-187
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Ukrainian