Today, more than 100 agricultural producers have gathered to discuss the status of the hydrotechnical reclamation reform in Ukraine. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the State Agency of Land Reclamation and Fisheries of Ukraine, the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, the USAID Agricultural and Rural Development Program (AGRO), and the Ukrainian Agri Council. They answered questions from agricultural producers and presented a manual on the establishment and operation of Water Users’ Organizations.

Mykola Solskyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, emphasized the important role of Water Users’ Organizations in further reforming the field of hydrotechnical reclamation and expressed hope for the speedy adoption of draft law No. 7577, which is necessary to complete the reform.

"Establishment of Water Users’ Organizations is an important stage in the reclamation reform. In cooperation with USAID, we have been working on laws that would expand agricultural producers’ opportunities interested in developing irrigation and drainage systems. The manual, which have been presented today, is a very useful tool and can help to understand all these processes," noted Mykola Solsky.

Ksenia Sydorkina, USAID AGRO Program Director, spoke about the support for the hydrotechnical reclamation reform from international donors.

"Back in 2017, the Government of Ukraine, in cooperation with the World Bank and with the support of USAID, jointly developed the Irrigation and Drainage Strategy for Ukraine until 2030, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2019. Water Users’ Organizations will play a key role in the revamped water reclamation management system. Therefore, it is very important to support their creation and help them to establish effective work. To ensure the effective implementation of the Water Users’ Organizations Law, we are currently implementing 2 sub-grant programs to support newly created Water Users’ Organizations, and we plan to launch 2 more this year. The total amount of co-financing allocated by the USAID AGRO Program for the modernization of hydrotechnical reclamation reaches USD 2,000,000. And this is just the beginning of our support in this area, which we plan to scale up," said Ksenia Sydorkina.

Vitalii Holovnia, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, noted that the reform of hydrotechnical reclamation is no less important than land reform and plays an important role in the country's economic recovery. He also spoke about the main stages of the comprehensive land reclamation reform, legislation and government programs implemented to support irrigation reform.

"We provide support for agricultural producers and Water Users’ Organizations that grow agricultural products on reclaimed land plots by providing subsidies. The state will compensate up to 25% of the costs to agricultural producers who have installed or modernized irrigation systems on their farms. Also, Water Users’ Organizations can receive assistance from the state to modernize and restore pumping stations that they will take ownership of and that will meet the requirements of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 974 dated August 30, 2022 "On Determining the Levels of Performance Indicators of a Pumping Station Transferred to the Ownership of a Water User Organization," he said.

Serhii Kubah, Land Reform Team Lead on USAID’s Agricultural Growing Rural Opportunities Activity in Ukraine - AGRO, emphasized the priority tasks that need to be solved for the successful implementation of irrigation reform:

"To complete the reform, a prerequisite is the adoption by the Parliament of the draft law No. 7577 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts on Improving the Management System of Engineering Infrastructure of State-Owned Land Reclamation Systems." This is a draft law on Operators of State Reclamation Systems, without which no real mechanism will be created to restore state reclamation systems and develop the reclamation sector. It is also important to adopt draft law No. 5203, which amends the Tax Code of Ukraine. These amendments regulate the issue of registered water management companies acquiring the status of a non-profit organization, which means that they do not have to pay income tax."

At the same time, while parliamentarians and government officials are engaged in legislative work, farmers should not waste time. All the conditions for establishing Water Users’ Organizations are created, with government and grant support programs.

Nowadays 18 Water Users’ Organizations have already been registered, and 22 constituent meetings have been initiated. Cherkasy and Odesa regions are the leaders in establishing WUOs.

To help farmers establish effective work of WUOs, the Ukrainian Agri Council, with the support of the USAID AGRO Program, has developed a manual that provides answers to all legal and practical questions, as well as algorithms for establishing and establishing WUCs, tariff setting and payment for their services, taxation and property management, etc.

"In the manual, we have collected all the information that agricultural producers need to get from the initial point of establishing WUOs to the final stage in the simplest and most optimal way, without any mistakes. The manual contains not only the theoretical framework consisting of laws and regulations, but also reflects the current practice of law enforcement of these laws. We have also prepared about 20 templates, samples of documents that can be used to create WUO," said Dmytro Kohan, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council, and reminded that the UAC team, together with the USAID AGRO Program, continues to provide advice on the creation of WUOs to all interested agricultural producers.

The manual can be downloaded at https://bit.ly/4216N07

The recording of the seminar can be viewed on the youtube channel https://bit.ly/44lhCf4