Фонд ім. Фрідріха Еберта Представництво в Україні Fabienne Pradella Putting Agricultural Competitiveness and Rural Well-Being On an Equal Footing Long Term Strategies for Rural Ukraine In order to leave the remaining legacies of the Soviet system behind, the rural area in Ukraine needs to be re-defined as an attractive place of living and not only in terms of agricultural production. Agricultural development is often addressed separately from other policy sectors. The impact of the economic and food crises has however shown that new integrated policy strategies must tackle poverty in general and aim at sustainable livelihoods for the(rural) population. The Ukrainian agricultural sector is also in the need of reform and especially lacks medium sized farms. With stable framework conditions leading to predictable effects on individual farmers, incentive structures for new agricultural undertakings are created. January 2010