Financial assistance in the amount of UAH 100.858 million will be provided to 25 agricultural enterprises in Kyiv region as part of the government’s e-Work program to support small and medium-sized businesses, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Denys Bashlyk said on Facebook.
According to him, the funds will be used to develop horticulture, berry growing, viticulture, and greenhouse farming. Thus, farmers will receive grants worth UAH 80.858 million for the development of horticulture and UAH 20 million for greenhouses. So far, UAH 74.401 million has been paid to them.
In addition, since the beginning of the year, 902 farmers in the Kyiv region have received UAH 10.402 billion in bank loans for farm development, the deputy minister stated.
As reported, since the beginning of the year, 12.3 thousand agricultural enterprises have received UAH 65.2 billion in bank loans for development. Of these, 9.6 thousand agricultural enterprises received UAH 37.5 billion in loans under the state program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9”.
The Cabinet of Ministers has amended the procedure for granting grants for the creation and development of horticulture, berry growing, viticulture, and greenhouse development.
According to Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, on Telegram, the decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
According to the report, the changes improve the mechanisms for supporting business entities operating in the relevant industries.
It is expected that the grant recipient will create jobs and employ full-time employees and pay them the mandatory minimum wage for such specialists.
In addition, the list of conditions for canceling decisions of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy has been expanded, in particular, in case the recipient unilaterally closes its bank account and in case of violation in the transfer of its entire share of co-financing within 30 days after the conclusion of the agreement.
The Cabinet of Ministers has clarified the number of employees required to provide grants for the establishment or development of greenhouse facilities and shortened the list of regions for almond planting.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has issued 57 orders granting grants to agricultural producers to establish orchards and build greenhouses for the total UAH 277.2 million.
According to the agency’s website on Friday, the grants to farmers range from 360 thousand UAH to 10 million UAH per recipient, the total area of future plantations and under greenhouses is 257.44 ha.
The Ministry also clarified that 52 of the 57 grants for the total amount of 242.2 million UAH will be allocated for planting gardens, and five grants for the total amount of 35 million UAH will be given for the construction of greenhouses. The participants of the greenhouses projects are farmers from Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattya, Odessa and Vinnytsia regions, the total area of the constructions will be 8.9 hectares.
Ministry of Agrarian Policy reminded that on November 15 the Cabinet of Ministers made a number of clarifications to the procedure for providing grants for the establishment or development of horticulture, berry growing and viticulture. In particular, grants are now available for the construction of modular greenhouses of at least 0.4 ha and not more than 2.4 ha in size according to the standard project and the number of new jobs created of at least 14 per 1 ha of greenhouse area. It is also possible to receive funds for the purchase of means of production (planting material, seeds, technological equipment), covering the costs of their delivery and commissioning the modular greenhouse.
There are set grant limits depending on the area of a modular greenhouse: for buildings 0,4-0,6 ha it shall not exceed 2 mln UAH, for constructions 0,8-1,2 ha – 3,5 mln UAH, for 1,6-2,4 ha – 7 mln UAH.
As it was reported, grants for greenhouses development allow agribusinesses to attract up to UAH 7 million of financing, and for gardening – up to UAH 10 million. In general, the state will allocate 16 billion UAH to finance such projects.
DEVELOPMENT, GRANTS, HORTICULTURE, MINISTRY OF AGRARIAN POLICY
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has issued 57 orders granting grants to agricultural producers to establish orchards and build greenhouses for the total UAH 277.2 million.
According to the agency’s website on Friday, the grants to farmers range from 360 thousand UAH to 10 million UAH per recipient, the total area of future plantations and under greenhouses is 257.44 ha.
The Ministry also clarified that 52 of the 57 grants for the total amount of 242.2 million UAH will be allocated for planting gardens, and five grants for the total amount of 35 million UAH will be given for the construction of greenhouses. The participants of the greenhouses projects are farmers from Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattya, Odessa and Vinnytsia regions, the total area of the constructions will be 8.9 hectares.
Ministry of Agrarian Policy reminded that on November 15 the Cabinet of Ministers made a number of clarifications to the procedure for providing grants for the establishment or development of horticulture, berry growing and viticulture. In particular, grants are now available for the construction of modular greenhouses of at least 0.4 ha and not more than 2.4 ha in size according to the standard project and the number of new jobs created, at least 14 per 1 ha of greenhouse area. It is also possible to receive funds for the purchase of means of production (planting material, seeds, technological equipment), covering the costs of their delivery and commissioning the modular greenhouse.
There are set grant limits depending on the area of a modular greenhouse: for buildings 0,4-0,6 ha it shall not exceed 2 mln UAH, for constructions 0,8-1,2 ha – 3,5 mln UAH, for 1,6-2,4 ha – 7 mln UAH.
As it was reported, grants for greenhouses development allow agribusinesses to attract up to UAH 7 million of financing, and for gardening – up to UAH 10 million. In general, the state will allocate 16 billion UAH to finance such projects.
The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture of Ukraine supported the concept of horticulture development until 2025 elaborated by the Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA) together with the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation, the Institute of Horticulture and Melon Сultivation, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture and Ukrainian vegetable producers.
According to the press release of the UHA, the major problem, which the concept is aimed at, is to provide the population of Ukraine with quality vegetable and melon products, as well as the development of effective competitive production.
“The volume of vegetable commercial market in Ukraine according to different estimates is about UAH 60 billion in wholesale prices. The greatest challenge for the industry is the informal economy, reaching 75-80% of the total volume, which amounts to UAH 40 million in monetary equivalent. The share of retail chains, which pay VAT on sale in the Ukrainian vegetable retail market, does not exceed 15%. Moreover, price fluctuations in the internal market sometimes exceed 1,000% per year,” the Head of UHA, Fedir Rybalko, is quoted in the report.
Among other problems in vegetable production, he singled out the growth of vegetable imports and the decline in exports. He says that in 2019, exports fell to 70,000 tonnes, while imports reached almost 200,000 tonnes.
“We included five areas in the concept that could improve the situation in the sector. Addressing the issue of price fluctuations and unshadowing requires an incentive for smallholder farmers, family farmers and individuals to integrate into the civil market, allowing producers to gain access to government support and funding programs, and to obtain better prices for their products,” the head of the association noticed.
The Ukrsadprom association has appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food with the request to increase funding of the program for the development of viticulture, horticulture and hop growing by the end of this year to meet the demand of farmers.
“Ukrsadprom records an extremely high demand on the part of gardeners for state support, the peak of which will be in the autumn planting season. And it is clear today that the demand of gardeners will significantly exceed the supply of existing support,” the association’s press release said.
In this regard, according to the decision of the association council of August 11, 2018, an appeal was sent to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food by the end of this year to increase funding for the program to meet the demand of farmers and expand the list of priority directions of state support, adding articles related to storage and pre-sale preparation of grown products.
“Considering high demand on the part of gardeners for participation in the support program, as well as the need to attract modern technologies to the industry and ensure sustainable development, Ukrsadprom suggests significantly increasing the amount of financing for the program in 2019 to ensure the rapid introduction of storage and pre-sale preparation facilities for Ukrainian fruits and berries,” the association said.
