FAO can help demining Ukrainian lands

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, FAO) plans to help agriculture in "gray" zones in the destruction of explosive objects. According to the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization office in Ukraine, Pierre Vauthier, it is planned to develop a corresponding program and "deal with one specific problem, namely, the problem of demining".

"This applies not only to mines, but in general to projectiles that remain and can harm livestock on pastures. This is a problem for farmers and agriculture," he noted.

Also, according to him, FAO will work to solve the issue of climate change and problems of entrepreneurship, in particular, the ability of Ukrainian farmers to adapt and introduce innovations.

"It is very important for us that young people remain in the agricultural sector, that they are interested in this field and that they develop and gain experience in it, improving the sector on their own," Pierre Vauthier emphasized.

It should be noted that today demining one hectare of land costs about 40-50 thousand hryvnias, and this is the market value of agricultural land. Denis Marchuk, deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, told about this on the air of "My-Ukraine".

According to him, millions of hectares of land in Ukraine will not be sown this spring due to contamination by explosive objects. Farmers in the war zone and de-occupied territories do not have enough money for demining, therefore, according to the expert, if farmers are not given financial support, it will intensify the world food crisis.

"Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has exacerbated the global food crisis. In the world, they did not even think about what role Ukraine plays in global agricultural markets. Since February 24, many countries noticed how rapidly the prices of food products began to rise, which immediately forced everyone to start solving the issue of resuming exports from Ukraine. Already today, external food supplies have improved, thanks to the work of the "grain agreement". But the price for which farmers sell their products is not market, which worsens the preparation of farmers for spring sowing", said Denys Marchuk.  

In fact, the lack of funds and the inability to properly prepare for the planting campaign in 2023 will lead to the fact that a significant number of fields will not be planted, and this will lead to a shortage of food in the world. Therefore, according to the representative of the VAR, today Ukraine should call on the world community to start forming financial support for Ukrainian producers.

"Agrarians in liberated territories need special support. Their fields remain mined, millions of hectares of land are at risk of being left without crops this year. The funds should be used to train additional demining teams and to finance the demining of fields for farmers. Mining works on one hectare of land actually cost as much as the land itself costs, i.e. approximately 40-50 thousand hryvnias per hectare. It is very difficult to find such funds, especially for those farmers who lost everything because of the war. A billion dollars is the minimum that would need to be involved in this work today," Denys Marchuk emphasized.