Compensation for agricultural land demining: 5,000 hectares milestone reached

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine presented a website for farmers who want to participate in the state program to compensate the cost of demining agricultural lands. All key information is gathered in one place, allowing one to check in a few steps whether a farmer meets the program's participation conditions, as well as detailed instructions on how to apply through the State Agrarian Register. Launching the site is the first stage of an information campaign aimed at increasing the number of farmers participating in the program and the quality of submitted documents.

"The government is interested in returning to use the lands affected by the war as soon as possible. For the second consecutive year, 3 billion hryvnias have been allocated for the state program for clearing agricultural lands. Currently, we are seeing slightly poorer activity dynamics than last year. We understand that this is partly due to the current active season of the sowing campaign. Farmers in the fields currently have other important priorities. But we don't want to just observe, we are acting proactively. The goal of our information campaign is to reach every male and female farmer working in frontline regions so that they know both about the program and what they need to do to be able to demine lands at the state's expense and safely work on their land," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravainyi.

Benjamin Lark, Head of the UNDP Mine Action Programme in Ukraine, noted that his organization takes pride in supporting this important initiative, which directly counters the devastating impact of explosive ordnance on Ukraine's agricultural sector.

"Through cooperation with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and financial support from the Republic of Korea, we aim to provide farmers with the knowledge and resources necessary to safely cultivate their land, facilitating the country's recovery and its resilience," he added.

The safety of agricultural producers remains a priority for the state. Demining fields not only returns lands to use but also saves the lives of people working in these territories. According to the IMSMA information system, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 200 people have suffered from explosive ordnance detonations during fieldwork. There are fatalities and damaged equipment. This underscores the critical importance of professionally clearing territories before seasonal work begins.

As of April 22, within the framework of the state program for compensating the cost of agricultural land demining, farmers submitted 228 applications, of which 191 were rejected. Overall, 15 auctions for the procurement of agricultural land demining services took place this year, amounting to 299.1 million UAH for a total area of 4,413.9 ha. Whereas last year – 50 out of 195 applications were approved, covering a total area of more than 9.6 thousand hectares, and contracts worth 536.6 million UAH were concluded.

"The most frequent reason for rejecting farmers – not conducting a non-technical survey on the land plots they operate. There were 102 such applications this year. That is why this year the Centre for Humanitarian Demining, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and local military administrations, is working on involving operators to conduct non-technical surveys on farmland in frontline areas. This can be done either with donor funds, state funds or by paying for such work yourself," declared the Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Demining Volodymyr Baida.

The information campaign also includes meetings with farmers in frontline regions, and the distribution of informational booklets about the program directly in communities affected by the war.

The communication campaign aimed at popularizing the state program for compensating the cost of agricultural land demining was developed by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the national Demine Ukraine platform, and the Centre for Humanitarian Demining with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and funding from the Republic of Korea.