Government to compensate farmers for demining costs: UAH 2 billion is allocated in the budget

Ukrainian farmers will be able to receive compensation to cover part of the costs of demining services. This was announced by Denys Bashlyk, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization.

"Full recovery of the Ukrainian economy is impossible without demining of all territories, including agricultural land. To this end, the Government's 2024 budget envisages compensation for part of the costs of agricultural producers for the purchase of demining services at open and transparent tenders," Bashlyk emphasized.

In the draft State Budget for 2024, the government has already allocated UAH 2 billion for this program.

According to Bashlyk, the Government also plans to support innovative production and increase the level of localization of existing mine action equipment production to ensure effective demining.

The development of the humanitarian demining market will help attract additional investment to expand the production of such equipment.

It should be noted that Ukraine currently ranks among the top countries in the world in terms of the number of mined areas. According to the UNDP, the area of mines and explosive hazards is 4.5 times larger than the area of Switzerland.

According to the government, more than 19,000 kilometers of infrastructure have been cleared of mines and more than 12,000 households have been cleared of explosive devices.

By the end of the year, it is planned to return 165,000 hectares of agricultural land to use.