Nowadays, the Ukrainian agricultural sector is at a disparity compared to its foreign competitors: the EU countries, the United States and Russia. This opinion was expressed by the UAC Deputy Chairman Mykhailo Sokolov during the round table: "How much taxes does the agribusiness in Ukraine pay: comparisons in terms of economic sectors and international practice", organized by the UAC and UCAB.

"Ukrainian agriculture sector has the least state support compared with the EU countries, the United States, Russia and Brazil. If we pursue a policy of increasing taxation, the domestic agricultural sector will be in even more unequal conditions and we will not be able to compete and show the same rate of production that we have nowadays. Moreover, we risk a reduction of production growth, or even a decline in production," the UAC Deputy Chairman said.

According to Mikhail Sokolov, it is necessary to increase the number of subsidies 54 times to reach the level of the European Union.

"If Ukrainian agriculture has the state support at the level which is centrally allocated by EU countries, it will cost UAH405 billion annually (without taking into account the internal aggravated subsidies of each country). At the same time the planned support for the agricultural sector next year is only UAH4,5 billion. This is an example of real disparity," he explained.

At the same time, the expert calls a counterproductive discussion the fact, that agricultural sector of Ukraine is under special arrangement, is subsidized and has benefits. He emphasizes that if we continue to follow this path, the domestic agricultural sector will turn from a driving force of the national economy into the industry which is not developed.