Ukraine has been and remains one of the guarantors of global food security: Denys Shmyhal

Ukrainian farmers have already conducted two successful sowing campaigns in incredible conditions and are now harvesting the second crop during the full-scale aggression. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a Government session on 18 July.

According to the Head of Government, the harvest is underway in 22 regions. More than 2 million tonnes of grain have already been harvested. The largest amounts have been harvested in Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.

The Prime Minister thanked the farmers for their dedicated work and noted that the Government was constantly focused on supporting the agricultural sector. He noted that in 2023, farmers had already received about UAH 42 billion in bank loans under various support programmes, including almost UAH 26 billion under the 5-7-9 soft loan programme. The largest amount of loans was granted in Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad regions.

“We continue to provide grants for planting new gardens and building greenhouses under the eRobota programme. We have already allocated more than UAH 300 million to businesses in this area,” the Head of Government said.

Another condition for the development of the agricultural sector, according to the Prime Minister, is the rapid demining of agricultural land. So far, more than 160,000 hectares have been surveyed, which is more than a third of the land to be returned to agricultural use as a matter of priority.

Denys Shmyhal noted that thanks to a trilateral agreement with Turkey and the UN, the Grain Initiative had been in place for almost a year. During this time, Ukraine has been able to export more than 33 million tonnes of agricultural products to 45 countries. But now russia is trying to disrupt this initiative and provoke a new food crisis in the world.

“President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already sent official letters to the President of Turkey and the UN Secretary-General. We propose to continue the operation of the Grain Initiative in a trilateral format. This will help save millions of people from hunger and ensure global food security,” the Head of Government noted, stressing that despite the full-scale war, Ukraine had been and remained one of the guarantors of global food security.

https://www.kmu.gov.ua