First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov conducted a meeting of the Government Commission on Agriculture.

Addressing the meeting Mr Zubkov stressed that "our task is to turn land into an attractive investment product for the farmer within a short space of time while striking a balance between economic incentives and administrative measures." In his opinion, it is necessary to consistently seek to create favourable conditions for the strengthening, in Russia, of a class of economically active and effective land users capable of ensuring the country's food security.

Mr Zubkov also said that Russia needs "a special mechanism for regulating the legal status of agricultural land different from the general rules that apply to real estate." He named improving the legal framework as a high priority. Other priority issues include simplifying the procedure of cadastre registration of rights to plots of land, more precise definition of the criteria of improper use of plots of land and development of a mechanism of relevant fines, a more concrete definition of the grounds for transferring land from the category of agricultural land to other categories with the payment of a commensurate compensation.

The need to improve land legislation in agriculture is prompted by the fact that an analysis of "the legal status of this issue has revealed extremely ineffective use of the important resource that agricultural land represents," Mr Zubkov explained.