The Government of Ukraine has expanded the terms of state grants under the program “eWork” for the development of horticulture, in particular, increased compensation for the cost of vineyard planting projects from 225 thousand UAH to 330 thousand UAH per 1 hectare of plantings, reported the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Wednesday.
It is indicated that the relevant changes to the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution of June 21, 2022 № 738 were made by the resolution № 241 on the initiative of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
It is noted that the agreed document proposes to change the conditions of planting and arrangement of planting on the land plot or on adjacent plots.
According to the new norms, grants will be provided not only for planting not more than 25 hectares of plantations with the installation of irrigation systems and water intake, but also for the arrangement of plantations on the land plot or on adjacent land plots, the total area of which is from 1 to 25 hectares.
The resolution also allows location between land plots of farm tracks, runs, field protective forest strips and other protective plantings, boundaries (rivers, streams, canals, forest strips, vegetation strips, trees, paths, ravines, gullies, ravines, wetlands).
According to the adopted document, at the same time the Cabinet of Ministers obliged grant recipients to attach scanned copies of the project of construction of a modular greenhouse with cost estimates, which must be signed by the project developer and irrigation project (in the absence of a corresponding section with calculations in the project of construction of a modular greenhouse) with indication of water intake sources (previously, project estimates and indication of water intake sources were not required) when registering an application on the portal “Dia”.
The government grant program “eWork” has been in effect since July 1, 2022 and provides support for small and medium-sized businesses. Among its advantages is the opportunity for everyone to create or develop their own business in the areas of “Own Business”, “Own Garden”, “Own Greenhouse”, and “New Level”.
In 2023, 131 orders were issued for grants for the development of horticulture, berry growing, viticulture (UAH 432.8 million) and greenhouse farming (UAH 159.4 million). It is expected to create about 15 thousand jobs.
Grants are provided in the amount of no more than 70% of the project cost and no more than UAH 10 million. The grant recipient must finance with its own or credit funds at least 30% of the project cost. A mandatory condition is employment of a certain number of workers: for orchards – from 5 to 10 permanent and 125-425 seasonal workers depending on the name of plantings, for greenhouses – at least 4 permanent and 10 seasonal workers per 1 hectare.
Funding for agro-producers under the government’s eWork program during 2024-2025 is provided through World Bank support under the “Emergency Inclusive Support for Ukraine’s Agricultural Recovery (ARISE) Emergency Project”.
