Rural Areas Development Fund as a Financial Instrument for Spatial Justice in Land Use and Sustainable Rural Development

The Rural Areas Development Fund (RADF) is specified to be a part of special state and local budget funds in terms of “completing” land reform in Ukraine. The funds should be aimed at the development of local infrastructure, facilitation of local people's access to health care and education services, support of small agricultural producers, etc. However, the sources for this Fund (RADF) is only slightly connected with land use results and other spatial resources in rural areas utilized by agricultural producers and do not include the necessity to provide their fair participation in the reproduction of these resources. The purpose of the article is to assess the formation sources of the Rural Areas Development Fund and justify their replenishment to financially ensure sustainable rural development based on spatial justice in land use. The concept of spatial justice in land use is revealed: it provides for adequate participation of agricultural producers, peasants, and society as a whole in the benefits of land use and other related spatial resources (water, air, landscapes, local infrastructure, etc.) and the equivalent contribution of these beneficiaries in resources reproduction. It is shown that corporate economic entities in agriculture rather extract spatial resources than contribute to their reproduction, however, the contribution of family and peasant farms in the financial base for rural development is significantly higher than agricultural enterprises. The necessity of per hectare payments to the Rural Areas Development Fund by agricultural producers leasing more than 100 hectares of agricultural land is substantiated; it is proposed that the rate of these payments in the amount of not less than 1 % of the normative monetary value of land should be set by local self-government bodies.