A protest campaign will take place near the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday, July 8, at 09:00. Farmers will demand from the Government the promised compensation for crop losses because of the drought.

The organizer of the campaign is the PU “Ukrainian Agri Council”.

The scale of this year's anomalous drought was catastrophic for the southern regions - Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhia. The worst situation is in Odesa region, where a third part of the harvest are lost. In the Ukrainian part of Bessarabia – winter crop losses range from 80% to 100%. Farmers are on the verge of bankruptcy, as a result - several suicides were made.

In May the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture promised the affected farms to compensate for the lost harvest partially. However, the funds have not been allocated.

At the same time, in addition to the ecological catastrophe, the Odesa region is also threatened by a social one. Public sentiment and the complicated economic situation in the region cause alarm. Farmers have nothing to pay a rent for land and taxes. Villagers may not receive funds for their shares, and local budgets will lose very big part of incomes that go for social benefits and community development. At the same time, 2020 sowing is under threat, because the farmers of the South have nothing to cover even this year's expenses.

UAC has repeatedly mentioned that there are mechanisms for compensating farmers’ losses.

By amending its resolution of February 8, 2017, the Government may redistribute funds from the budget program "Financial support for agricultural producers", for which UAH 4 billion has been allocated. UAH 1.2 billion is provided for one of the directions of this program - "Financial support of measures in the agro-industrial complex by reducing the cost of loans". These funds are intended to compensate for interest on loans, which farmers will take to purchase agricultural land. However, the launch of the land market instead of October 2020 should take place only in July 2021. Funds from this area can be used to compensate farmers’ losses because of the drought. Funds for agricultural producers can also be allocated from the reserve fund of the budget. The condition of use of such funds provide for their return. However, due to amendments of the paragraph 11 of the “Procedure for the use of the reserve fund of the budget” it is possible to provide for the allocation of funds on a non-refundable basis to the farms. In particular, in the situation of a threat to Ukraine's food security, caused by the consequences of natural emergencies.

UAC calls on the Ministry of Economic Development, the Government and the parliament to use both proposed mechanisms for allocating funds!

The protest campaign will take place at the address: Kyiv, Hrushevskoho Street 12/2, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

A briefing for the media with the participation of event organizers and farmers begins at 9:00.

The participants of go to the President's Office at 10:00, where they are going to pass their statement to Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

Contacts for mass media: (096) 211 16 90