Ukraine wish to return more than 500,000 hectares of agricultural land to economic use

For the current year, Ukraine has updated the plan for the priority return of agricultural land to economic exploitation. As First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy Yuliya Svyridenko noted, in 2023 sappers performed a significant amount of work on surveying and demining agricultural lands. Now the plan has been revised. New lands were added to it, which will be demined first. Now the benchmark is to return more than 512 thousand hectares of land to economic exploitation.

According to the updated plan, the priority return of land to economic exploitation will take place in 8 regions of Ukraine. In particular, it is planned to survey and, if necessary, clean up and demining lands in Kherson (248,000 ha), Kharkiv (190,000 ha), Mykolaiv (44,000 ha), Kyiv (9.4 thousand ha), Donetsk (12 ,8 thousand ha), Dnipropetrovsk (6,6 thousand ha), Chernihiv (2 thousand ha) and Sumy (85 ha) regions. And in the state budget for 2024, compensation at the level of UAH 3 billion is provided for land owners who will use demining services.

During 2023, more than 200,000 hectares of agricultural land will be returned to use. Pyrotechnics - units of the State Emergency Service, State Security Service, non-governmental operators of mine countermeasures - demonstrate good results. Even now, in winter, when the weather is not conducive to work in the fields, 3 to 5 thousand hectares of agricultural land are surveyed every week.

In addition, the government and international partners are currently working on strengthening the capacities of operators and strategic planning of the work of all relevant parties in the field of mine action for the next 10 years. The ultimate goal is to return to safe use up to 80% of the country's areas currently considered potentially contaminated. Earlier, the Deputy Spokesman of the UN Secretary General, Farhad Gak, announced the launch in Ukraine of a project to clear agricultural land from explosive objects, in particular mines. This project is implemented by the World Food Program of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Swiss Mine Action Fund. The goal of the project is to support small farmers and rural families, the most affected by hostilities. The program has already been launched in the Kharkiv region and is planned to be extended to Kherson region and Mykolaiv region.

The UN representative added that they plan to support farmers with plots of land up to 300 hectares, as well as rural families that grow food for themselves. The initiators claim that the program will help return land to use, as well as restore agricultural production in Ukraine. It is known that Ukraine aims to return 80% of potentially contaminated land to productive use within 10 years.

As reported in the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, this requires "clear coordination between all participants in the process, focus and innovative approaches." According to available estimates, 90% of the work in Ukraine will be related to the release of land and only about 10% - to demining. Therefore, it is suggested to identify slightly polluted or non-polluted lands among potentially polluted ones and quickly return them to use. Demining of areas with a high density of pollution will be delayed. This approach will make it possible to rationally use resources and quickly return significant areas to productive use.