HALO Trust operations in Ukraine: expanding demining capacity

A tool for farmers to submit applications to participate in the compensation program for the cost of demining agricultural lands has become operational in the State Agrarian Register. The program covers both lands directly owned by the farmer and plots they rent.

3 billion hryvnias have been allocated in the state budget for the compensation program.

"One of the goals of humanitarian demining is to clear lands so people can work safely in territories where hostilities previously took place. Today we launched a tool in the State Agrarian Register that will maximally simplify the submission of applications by farmers who want to clear their plots and do so with state support. The state covers 80% of the cost of clearing the land," said First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Farmers whose lands are in de-occupied territories, where after non-technical surveys contamination or probable contamination with explosive ordnance is confirmed, can participate in the program. The farms themselves must not have tax debts, must not be bankrupt, must not belong to citizens of the aggressor state, and must not be on the sanctions list.

"The Ministry of Economy has prepared transparent procedures and uniform rules for all program participants. Both farmers and mine action operators will be able to see how the price is formed, who took part in the bidding, and what the final cost of demining a particular plot is. I hope interested farmers will soon take advantage of this opportunity and we will quickly see the first auctions for demining agricultural plots," explained Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravainyi.

The verification of applications submitted by farmers is carried out by the Centre for Humanitarian Demining. It also announces auctions for demining services in the Prozorro system, and after determining the winning operator and the final cost of demining, transfers 80% of the amount to a special account. The farmer deposits the remaining 20% into the account.

"We maximally simplified the technical procedure for farmers to create an application in the State Agrarian Register. Most of the data is pulled automatically during the farmer's registration in the SAR. Then, to complete the application and apply a digital signature, only a few mouse clicks are needed. We strove to make the application submission convenient and understandable, so that even a farmer registering in the system for the first time could do it," commented Volodymyr Baida, Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Demining, whose specialists, together with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, implemented the development, regarding the launch of the new tool.

Currently, two state-owned banks participate in the program - PrivatBank and Oschadbank. Over time, other banks in which the state share is more than 50% will join the program. Accordingly, a farmer needs to open an account in one of these banks, to which the funds will be transferred.

The mine action operator will receive the entire reserved amount after completing demining and confirmation of the completed works by the Centre.

You can apply via the link: https://www.dar.gov.ua/

A farmer can also receive compensation for agricultural lands already demined in the period from February 24, 2022, to April 15, 2024. For this, they must fill out and submit an Application for Compensation to the Centre for Humanitarian Demining at info@uachd.gov.ua.

The application, sealed with a digital signature, must be accompanied by:

a copy of the contract with a certified operator for the provision of demining services;

copies of acts of rendered services confirming the completion of demining;

copies of payment documents confirming settlement for the provided demining services.

In the first six months, Ukrainian sappers demined and returned over 156 thousand hectares of agricultural land to use. The highest demining rates are in the Kherson region - 146 thousand hectares. This is almost 60% of what was planned in this region for the current year. In the Kharkiv region, 11.3 thousand hectares were demined during the first half of the year, and in Mykolaiv - 8.3 thousand.