A draft law simplifying the procedure of obtaining land plots for lease for Russian farmers has been submitted to the State Duma, the Ministry of Agriculture reports following a meeting between Deputy Agriculture Minister Svetlana Khodneva and Deputy Speaker of the lower house of parliament Alexei Gordeev.

The bill provides for the possibility of granting land plots to peasant (farm) farms on lease without bidding for up to 5 years. “This will solve the problem associated with the inability of small forms of farming to compete with large businesses at land auctions,” the report says.

In addition, work is underway to improve the mechanism of alienation of agricultural land from unscrupulous right holders.

“The draft law, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, proposes to reduce the period of seizure of agricultural land that is not used for its intended purpose. And it is extremely important to emphasize that this process will go through a judicial procedure,” Gordeev said, quoted in the press release.

The bill establishes the possibility to take into account the terms of non-use of land plots or their use in violation of Russian law by the time the supervisory authority identifies such a fact. The changes will allow to promptly return land to agricultural turnover and prevent its further degradation, notes the Ministry of Agriculture.

In addition, the agency has developed a draft federal law aimed at simplifying the procedure for recognizing land shares as unclaimed and transferring them to municipal ownership.