Farmers in the southern regions of Ukraine have faced a record drought. Preliminary estimates show that over 55,000 hectares of crops have been affected.
In monetary terms, farmers’ losses exceed 1 billion hryvnias, said Denis Marchuk, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, during a briefing.
“Farmers don’t remember a drought like this in the last 10-15 years. The losses are huge. We’re talking about Kherson region and adjacent areas, including parts of Mykolaiv region. People have lost their harvest; often the land cannot be worked because of mine contamination, and the situation is worsened by debts on loans. All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council is initiating an appeal to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agrarian Policy to develop support mechanisms for affected agricultural producers,” the association’s press service quoted him as saying.
One key problem in these regions is the lack of the President’s signature on a bill that would freeze loan repayments for farmers from temporarily occupied and frontline territories until the end of the war and for one year afterward. This is bill No. 1214-8, which after passing the Verkhovna Rada in the second reading received the number No. 4340-IX.
All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council stresses that without urgent state intervention, some farms may not survive until the next planting season. The current situation poses a threat to the economy and food security of the region.
