KYIV. Nov 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian government would find schemes for resuming large-scale production of agricultural machinery in Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said during his visit to Kherson Machine Building Plant.
“As for support of combine production… The top managers of the enterprise say that this combine has been brought up to date. If it is so and it is proved, I think we would be able to speak about finding tools to support building of combines in Ukraine,” the press service of the government said on Thursday, citing Groysman.
The prime minister said that the government considers support of machine building in Ukraine a top priority.
“Today we see that equipment for agriculture, including machinery, can be made in Ukraine,” Groysman said, commenting on the operation of Kherson Machine Building Plant.
He said that around 20 enterprises in Ukraine are cooperating with the plant delivering knots for machinery.
“The competitive advantage is the quality and the price. The price is twice cheaper than the analog. This is good. The quality would make farmers to believe in these products and start using them,” he said.
“Today we have absolutely all chances to create a Ukrainian tractor,” Groysman said, adding that the government wants to create schemes for compensating a part of the cost of agricultural machinery.
The prime minister said that around 100 types of agricultural equipment are made in Ukraine.
“We are ready to compensate 20-30% of the cost of equipment to Ukrainian farmers who produce national products. This would cheapen farmers’ goods, and farmers would have a chance to use this equipment in production. We want to launch this circle,” he said.
He said that the Cabinet of Ministers and the national committee for industrial development are working on the issue.
He said that the government envisaged UAH 5.5 billion for support of small and medium-sized farms in the draft 2017 national budget. It could be expanded to UAH 10 billion. Now the government is holding consolations with parliament to look for the required tools.
