IN UKRAINE, OVER FIVE MILLION HA OF LANDS ARE UNUSED DUE TO THE WAR

In Ukraine, more than 5 million hectares of agricultural land cannot be sown due to the fact that they are mined, contaminated with explosive remnants, or that hostilities are ongoing. This was announced by the head of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Oleksandr Haydu, Ukrinform reports, agronews.ua writes.

According to the people's deputy, as a result of hostilities, colossal areas of land are still unusable.

"According to the latest information from OVA, we are talking about about 5 million hectares of agricultural lands that need to be examined and may be contaminated," he said.

The head of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy noted that due to mining or the presence of dangerous objects in agricultural lands, it is impossible to sow them and this directly affects the food stability of the country.

"Our primary task, with the help of international partners, is to create conditions for demining the land of small and medium-sized farmers who do not have the opportunity to do it on their own," he emphasized.

Haydu reminded that representatives of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) plan to allocate about 50 million dollars for the purchase of mechanized demining equipment and the training of operators of such equipment in 2023. They will be used to clean Ukrainian territories contaminated with explosive objects.