Ukraine calls on the EU to help carry out spring sowing

The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Mykola Solsky, called on EU representatives to support Ukrainian agrarians and facilitate spring sowing. He stated this during his speech at a joint meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Board of the European Commission, a number of mass media reported.

As the government official noted, Ukrainian farmers currently face two main challenges - to carry out a high-quality sowing campaign and to increase the liquidity of agricultural products. Therefore, farmers should be provided with seed and fertilizers. This will allow not to leave a single hectare unsown. Seeds and fertilizers are exactly the kind of help that the agricultural sector of Ukraine desperately needs.

The Minister also noted that Ukrainian farmers are suffering great losses, because the selling price of grain is quite low and logistics have become more expensive. Mykola Solskyi added that Ukraine needs to implement a large-scale program of simplified lending to farmers. The minister appealed to EU representatives to support the Ukrainian agricultural sector.

In turn, the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitization, Denis Bashlyk, held talks with representatives of the European Investment Bank during a working visit to Luxembourg. The purpose of these talks was to discuss the details of launching credit programs through Ukrainian banks to support the work of medium and small farmers. It was also about financing infrastructure projects in the field of agriculture. Funding volumes are still being agreed upon, initially it is several hundred million euros.

"The European Investment Bank has been a reliable and powerful partner of Ukraine for many years, every Ukrainian feels its help even now, because the bank finances a number of socially and economically significant projects. And so, without a doubt, it will be in the future, we receive clear signals from the bank in further assistance to Ukraine in general, and the agrarian sector as its strategic part in particular", - emphasized Denys Bashlyk.

EIB Vice-President Tereza Chervinska, in turn, confirmed that EIB, together with the European Commission, continues to work on the creation of a financial instrument to help Ukraine in the recovery process, as well as to facilitate Ukraine's accession to the EU. Such an instrument is designed to support Ukraine in infrastructure reconstruction, economic recovery and investment.