On Monday, September 6, there will be made a presentation of a pilot project on the establishment of Water Users’ Organizations, which is implemented by the UAC in conjunction with the USAID’s Agricultural Growing Opportunities Activity in Ukraine (AGRO).

Water Users’ Organizations (WUOs) are non-profit organizations of farmers, the creation of which is provided by the bill 5202-d "On Water Users' Organizations and Stimulation of Hydrotechnical Land Reclamation". The document was developed by a group chaired by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotskyi and with the participation of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the State Agency for Water Resources, USAID AGRO, the International Bank and others. Its adoption will provide an opportunity for agricultural producers to invest in the development of irrigation system and independently control the operation of reclamation systems. The bill is currently being considered by parliament in the first reading.

The pilot project is being launched in the Kherson region, as it is in this region that the irrigation system is best preserved and has the greatest potential for its further development. Direct support is provided for the establishment of at least two Water Users' Organizations, which will take over the facilities of the reclamation system of the low level, in particular, pumping stations of state or communal ownership or without owner. It is planned to involve more than 40 farms to the WUO, which cultivate at least 10,000 hectares of land.

The project is designed for two years. During this time, experts of the UAC in cooperation with Water Users’ Organization and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy will provide information support to agricultural producers: explain the legal and technical basis, meet with farmers, help to set up WUOs and support them at the beginning of the activity, accompany the processes of network transmission, etc. As a result of the project implementation, recommendations and templates of all necessary documents for the creation and development of new WUOs in the state will be developed.

Event speakers:

• Mykhailo Sokolov, the UAC Deputy Chairman;
• Roman Fedorchenko, the UAC’s consultant in the project "Development and implementation of a pilot project to establish Water User’s Organizations in Kherson region";
• Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine;
• Serhii Kubakh, Head of Land Reform for USAID's Agricultural and Rural Development Program (AGRO);
• Oleksii Kuzmenkov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine;
• Artem Chornomorov, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Financial Policy in the agro-industrial complex.

Start at 12:00

Place of the event: press center of the UNIAN news agency, Khreshchatyk Street 4, Kyiv.

The event will be broadcast on the website and YouTube channel "UNIAN":

Website: https://www.unian.ua/static/press/live

YouTube channel UNIAN: https://youtu.be/CbuI30B5088

Media representatives accreditation: +38 (096) 211 16 90

Press service of the UAC