Agrarian farms in the Odesa region were threatened with complete bankruptcy, and the 2021 sowing campaign was threatened with failure: in the region, due to the drought, in addition to winter crops, spring crops also almost completely died. This is reported All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
The winter harvest in the region was lost on more than 300 hectares. Agricultural producers reseeded part of these areas with spring crops - corn, sunflower, and millet. However, due to unfavorable weather, they also lost this crop.
"We sowed twice this year and twice we did not harvest anything. In Bessarabia, 80% of farms in which winter crops died were able to sow spring crops after borrowing money from banks. Today, about 30% of the squares have already died. In 30 percent, we see that there is no chance to collect anything. Therefore, about 70 percent is the repeated death of crops that have already been replanted," said Alexander Denisenko, head of the Agro Yug Company from the Belgorod-Dniester region.
The agrarian says that, in addition to the drought, a storm that turned into a hailstorm "passed" through the fields. As a result, 82 hectares of sunflowers and 130 hectares of millet were harvested in his farm.
Yury Yalovchuk's farm LLC Kolos, which is located in the Velikomykhaylovsky district, also hoped for a spring harvest. However, the prospects are disappointing.
"We sowed wheat, rapeseed, and barley in the fall, and in the spring - barley, peas, corn, and sunflower. Only 500 tons of grain were harvested from two thousand hectares. Rapeseed has disappeared since autumn, and the yield of the second winter crops is 2-3 centners per hectare. We did not harvest a thousand hectares at all. They thought that we would correct the situation at the expense of corn. But it dried up. And all the corn that we sowed for grain has to be mown for silage. We still hope for a sunflower, but we lose it every day, because it also dries up. We have 1 shareholders. According to the contract, they need to give two tons of grain each, for which 450 tons are needed. And we only have 900, that's why we decided to give half of it for now," said the agricultural producer.
The loss of two crops and even after the previous non-harvesting year is catastrophic for agricultural producers. Currently, nothing pays rent and taxes. Agrarians note: social tension is growing in the region, which will only intensify. Local budgets will not receive significant amounts of funds.
However, back in May, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture promised to allocate funds to compensate losses for lost winter crops. However, the agrarians did not receive anything. Moreover, this week the Minister of Economic Development, Igor Petrashko, said that the ministry has not yet found a mechanism for allocating funds on a non-refundable basis to compensate farmers for their losses.
"This does not correspond to reality: there is a mechanism for compensating farmers for losses, and the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council has repeatedly stated this and proposed it for consideration and implementation. Both the ministry and the government are well aware of the proposals of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. After all, we raised this issue back in the spring and voiced it during a meeting with farmers, which took place after their protest outside the walls of the Cabinet of Ministers and the President's Office," noted the deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, Denys Marchuk.
In particular, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council offers:
— will redistribute the funds of the budget program "Financial Support of Agricultural Producers", for which UAH 4 billion has been allocated, by making changes to Government Resolution No. 8 dated February 2017, 77. UAH 1,2 billion is earmarked for one of them - "Financial support for activities in the agro-industrial complex by reducing loans". Funds from this direction can be directed to compensation for losses to farmers affected by the drought;
— money for agricultural producers can also be allocated from the reserve fund of the budget. The terms of use of such funds provide for their return. However, due to the introduction of changes to clause 11 of the Procedure for using the funds of the reserve fund of the budget, it is possible to provide for the allocation of funds on a non-refundable basis to economic entities. In particular, in the case of a threat to Ukraine's food security caused by the consequences of natural emergencies.
The All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council calls on the Ministry of Economic Development, the government and the parliament to use both of the proposed mechanisms for allocating funds.
