Kherson agriculture turned into corruption hub under Russian occupation
Kherson (Photo: Radio Svoboda/Radio Liberty)
Russia's occupation administration has introduced de facto manual control over the agricultural sector in Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast, drastically changing operating conditions for local farmers, National Resistance Center (NRC) reported on Jan. 11.
The Center’s analysts said agricultural land is now distributed without any transparent procedures or oversight, allowing the Kremlin-installed authorities to fully control access to farmland.
At the initiative of the Oblast so-called governor, Vladimir Saldo, an occupation structure called “Kherson Grain Company” was created and publicly presented as a tool to “organize” the agricultural sector.
In practice, however, the NRC said this structure serves as a controlled intermediary that monopolizes access to land, removes farmers from direct negotiations, and concentrates resources within a single entity.
Analysts emphasized that the company’s operating scheme shows clear signs of systemic corruption. Land plots are not transferred directly to producers but are distributed through the pseudo-state company to a limited circle of loyal individuals or leased out at inflated sub-lease prices.
As a result, farmers are forced to operate under worse conditions, without stability guarantees, while the financial interests of the company’s management are effectively embedded in the very mechanism of land access.
In addition, this structure claims the right to receive so-called state subsidies, which, according to the Center, turns budget support into an internal redistribution of funds among individuals close to the occupation administration.
The NRC also noted that this management model may be linked to Saldo’s personal financial interests, including possible asset transfers through networks of foreign companies involved in agricultural trade.
Thus, the company’s “state” status is used as a cover for non-transparent land management, corrupt arrangements, and the systematic displacement of local farmers, while Kherson’s agricultural sector is increasingly turning into a source of income for a narrow group of structures connected to the occupation authorities.
It was earlier reported that the Kremlin ordered farmers in the temporarily occupied territories to obtain Russian tractor-operator licenses, otherwise threatening to confiscate their equipment.
In addition, in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, the occupation authorities fear possible farmer protests due to looting, terror, and forced property seizures.
Russia has also attempted to force farmers in the occupied part of Kherson Oblast to sell all grain and vegetables at fixed prices below market levels.
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