The agricultural sector is in dire need of an extension of the deadline for renewing the critical status of enterprises to ensure stable operation of the industry in the spring season. This was emphasized by Denys Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the UAC, during the national telethon “United News”:

“The reserving situation is critical for food security and foreign exchange earnings. Last year's exports showed that about 60% of all supplies from Ukraine were agricultural products, which allowed us to attract about 24.7 USD billion. This is one of the key areas that provides the country with finance in wartime. However, due to the problems with determining the criticality of enterprises caused by cyberattacks, a significant number of requests for reservation were simply not processed in time.”

Due to technical difficulties, many agricultural enterprises found themselves in a situation where they could not submit documents in a timely manner, which jeopardizes the sowing campaign. Due to the large number of applications, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is currently delaying their processing.

“We are losing the possibility of reserving for thousands of agricultural enterprises, which means a shortage of labor during the active phase of the sowing campaign. This is especially critical for such specialties as tractor and combine drivers, who are already in short supply. That is why we are appealing to the government to extend the deadline for updating the status of critical enterprises until March 31 to ensure the stability of agricultural production,” added Marchuk.

The UAC expects that the Ministry of Economy will soon submit a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers, and the decision to extend the reservation period for agricultural enterprises will be made.