During the war, direct and indirect losses of the agricultural sector reached $40.2 billion, but these are not the final figures, as Ukrainian territories are still under temporary occupation, so it is difficult to calculate the full extent of losses, said Oleksandr Haidu, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy.
“Confirmed direct losses of the agricultural sector exceeded $8.7 billion. We are talking about the destruction of infrastructure, business facilities, logistics chains, destruction and theft of grain and agricultural machinery by the enemy. There are also indirect losses of at least $30.5 billion. Unfortunately, this is not the final figure. When we accurately calculate the damage caused by the enemy’s explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the amount will be much higher,” the MP said on Wednesday at the conference “18 Months of War. Damage to the agricultural sector and prospects for the industry’s recovery”.
According to him, it is difficult to assess the consequences of contamination of agricultural land with explosives, destruction of the upper layers of soil due to “arrivals” and explosions during demining.
“We see that a large area is mined. Potentially, 174 thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian land are contaminated with explosives. And this is without taking into account the temporarily occupied regions,” the MP noted and informed about the preparation of the draft law “On the Quality of Soils”.
Gaidu also emphasized that the state cannot cover the needs of the affected farmers on its own and promised to engage international partners to support the agricultural sector.
“I emphasized the expediency of differentiating programs for farmers. After all, the needs of farmers are very different. For example, those farms that operate in the de-occupied territories cannot attract investment because financial institutions are mostly unwilling to cooperate with them. Although they are the first to return to their places after the liberation of the region to resume their activities and fill local budgets,” he wrote on Facebook.
The chairman of the relevant parliamentary committee believes that one of the mechanisms for compensation for the damage could be “grain reparations,” a mechanism that would help farmers receive compensation for destroyed businesses.
