Thanks to the efforts of a land surveyor Volodymyr Kalchuk, the budget of a small communityin Zhytomyr Oblast increased by UAH 1.5 million. This helped to provide social services for 20  thousand residents and pay salaries. During the first year of full-scale war, Volodymyr continued working on land plots despite challenges and helped other farmers. His current goal is to ensure every piece of land in Chernyakhiv is cultivated and generates income for the local budget.

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This story is part of the Governance Champions campaign by the USAID HOVERLA Activity. It is a series of publications dedicated to Local Government Day featuring professionals who bring outstanding results to the community through their daily work.

 

 

Volodymyr Kalchuk spent his entire life working in the fields. As a teenager, he helped his father plow and sow in the Zhytomyr Oblast. He studied in Kyiv but chose to return to his hometown to continue working the land.

"I had three cows and bought a couple of horses — that’s how we started. When we expanded, horses couldn’t handle all the jobs. So we bought a homemade tractor," recalls Volodymyr Kalchuk, Head of the Land Relations Department of the Chernyakhiv Village Council.

Later, his son joined him in growing soybeans, wheat, and corn. They invested significant time and resources into their work. "This is important for the state because we produce food and contribute to the budget, which is used to address people's needs," he says.

 

 

The man wanted to encourage people in his hometown of Ksaverivka to farm more land. In 1992, he started working as a land surveyor at the Cherniakhiv village council, finding unused land and helping local farmers lease it. Land became his passion, and after the decentralization reform, he continued working with land in local government.

“In this position, I do my best to ensure that the community receives budget revenues from every piece of land. In the beginning, it worked well. In 2021, the community leased 2 thousand hectares of land on which local farmers grew soybeans, wheat, corn, and buckwheat  — and had good harvests and profits,” says Volodymyr.

But the full-scale war changed everything. The cost of fuel and seeds increased dramatically. To sow a field, farmershad to spend twice as much as in previous years. In addition, many farmers did not want to take any risks - they were afraid of the Russian advance and possible occupation.

 

 

To change this situation, Volodymyr worked together with the USAID HOVERLA Activity. At the HOVERLA’s training, he learned how to lease land for up to a year under a simplified procedure. The new knowledge and efforts of the land surveyor allowed him to conclude 25 lease agreements. Volodymyr managed to lease plots with a total area of 150 hectares, which significantly replenished the budget during the war. Chernyakhiv became the first community in the region to implement this approach.

After that, HOVERLA suggested creating a land registry in the Chernyakhiv community. “We had our database, but it was not so perfect that by opening a table, we could see all the information about land plots in the community - rent, lease agreements, and interest rates, as well as budget revenues. Thanks to the HOVERLA experts, in three months we finally completed the unified register of communal property,” says Volodymyr Kalchuk.

This register allowed not only the identification of vacant land plots but also unpaid UAH 1.5 million for land leases. This is a significant amount of money for the community, which can be used to support the social sphere and pay salaries.

 

 

Volodymyr has ambitious plans for the future - to lease all the fields in the community to sow every piece of land: “Land is the wealth of Ukraine. It is really painful for me to see these lands overgrown and not bearing the fruit for which they exist. So I will make every effort to fix it.”

The USAID HOVERLA Activity helps to build the institutional potential of local governments through the professional development of their officials, supporting the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development’s efforts in strengthening the capacity and self-sufficiency of Ukrainian communities.

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This publication was prepared based on materials of the non-governmental organization “Icebreaker” (ShoTam media) which were created within the “Effective Solutions for Progressive Communities” project and were made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the generous support of the American people through USAID HOVERLA Activity.  The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government