Features of formation and development of lease relations in Tavriya province (2nd half of XIX century – 1917)

• Main Author: Nataliia Chernikova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House "Grani" 2020-03-01
• Series: Granì
• Subjects: lease; taurian province; mainland counties, entrepreneurship; land use; noble land tenure; peasant farming; post-reform period
• Online Access: https://grani.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/1503
• ISSN: 2077-1800; 2413-8738

The article deals with the process of formation and development of lease relations in the agrarian sector of Tavria province in the second half of the 19th century-1917 in the conditions of vendible farming and animal husbandry development. The causes of widespread leasing and the specificity of this process in different counties of the province are analyzed. The role of landlord ownership in the formation of the lease fund of the region is determined. The vast lands served as a significant source of productive and non-productive profit for the local nobility. Few owners of capitalist-type farms used the proceeds of the lease to modernize their farms. Lease was the main means of land use for the vast majority of nobles. The ways of involving the Taurian peasantry in the lease relations in the conditions of its property and social differentiation are revealed here. Attention is drawn to the fact that the wealthy peasantry was the main tenant who used the leased land primarily for the organization of commercial agriculture. Characterization of the types of land constituting the lease fund of the region have been made. It has been found that private ownership constituted its vast majority, as well as peasant allotments, treasury lands and private institutions. The specifics of the lease of state-owned lands in Tavria province are shown. A wide variety of statistical sources cover the types of land leases and regional features of their using. Skopschina was a popular form of rent; however, on the areas of commercial agriculture, there was a dynamic development of monetary rent as a characteristic feature of capitalist housekeeping. The dynamics of changes in rental prices in the context of species and regional differentiation are traced. The advantages and disadvantages of rent for the owners and tenants of the province are highlighted. It was concluded that the lease occupied an important place in the land tenure and land using of the population of Tavria province - above all, the nobility and the peasantry as the main subjects of lease relations and makers of agricultural products. It contributed to the development of entrepreneurship and the strengthening of capitalist forms of farming in the countryside.