Ukrainian farmers under the government-funded program to support acquisition of Ukrainian machinery and equipment bought it for the amount of over UAH 5.77 billion in 2019, which is 31.2% more than in 2018, Secretary of the National Committee for Industrial Development Olena Salikhova has said.
“At the same time, the amount of compensation [25% of the cost] for the purchased equipment according to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, in fact in 2019 amounted to UAH 640 million (applications submitted by farmers in September were satisfied), while applications filed in October-November for the amount of UAH 563 million were not compensated, but the equipment was purchased,” she said during a Thursday working meeting with Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky with agricultural associations devoted to support programs for 2020.
In turn, Vysotsky said that this program was underfunded due to the fact that the budget provided for these purposes less funds (UAH 682 million) than the demand for this program.
“Farmers bought a lot more equipment under the program than there were funds in the budget, so we can discuss the possibility of considering this compensation in 2020. Our position is to complete all the programs,” the deputy minister said.
He said that in the fourth quarter, when there was no money left for compensation, farmers purchased equipment for UAH 2 billion, which means compensation for another UAH 500 million.
