Today, it is extremely difficult for agricultural enterprises in the liberated and temporarily occupied territories to conduct economic activities. Farms in the areas of war face especially challenging conditions. Their assets are damaged or destroyed, but the banks and the tax office systematically charge debts and demand its payment. At the same time, farms located close to the front line have been unable to sow for two years consecutive years because it is physically impossible to go out to the fields. 

Participant of the UAC from the Zaporizhzhia region "FG SV Agro" has been partially occupied since April 2022. Their land of ​​1,085 hectares where the farm usually sowed wheat, barley and rapeseed, is occupied. Since January 19, 2023, the rest of the farm has fallen under occupation including the administrative buildings, warehouses, granaries. "We managed to take some equipment out, but some were destroyed.There were 15 bombing on 0.86 hectares of land where our administrative buildings and warehouses are located. We lost our new seed drills and cultivators, a brand new expensive harvesters, etc.," says the deputy chairman of the farm Valentyn Vailo.

In additional the farm is burned by loans they took out in 2021

"We needed working capital and equipment, so we took loans. Even before the war, they took UAH 4 million in three different banks. Currently, our debt is UAH 2.7 million in two banks. There was a time when banks demanded to return debts together with interest. Today, we agreed with a commercial bank to restructure our debt and we pay moderate monthly amounts. However, we still have the debt on the preferential loan "5-7-9" in the state-owned "Oschadbank". The repayment deadline is in August, we really hope that the state will help farmers. Because of the occupation, we did not sow a single hectare, we did not harvest, instead we had expenses for sowing in 2021, we will not sow anything in 2023. We are close to the war zone, we cannot go to the fields", - added Valentyn Vailo.

Farm "SV Agro" has already calculated the direct losses caused by the war - it is UAH 8.6 million, and indirect losses are over UAH 20 million.

The UAC’s member LLC "Gavrylyuk" is located almost on the front lines of the Kharkiv region

"We have been working since 2001, we have 3,100 hectares under cultivation, where we usually sown corn, rapeseed, sunflower, wheat, barley, and peas. Today, all 3,000 hectares are mined, there was a front line there. On February 25, 2022, the armed forces were already in our farm, they seized equipment worth 15 million UAH for the needs of the army including loaders, four-wheel drive vehicles, tractors, buses. We gave the equipment, and now the tax authorities demand that I pay 4 million tax on it, saying that it was not used for its purpose. The rest of the equipment was completely destroyed by bombing. We also have to pay taxes on mined fields where nothing is sown. The tax authorities do not accept our arguments, they need a appropriate law, so we are in debt. That is why the work of the enterprise is completely paralyzed", - says Oleksandr Havryliuk, head of the farm.

The farm has loans in two banks UAH 26 million. How to repay them when it is impossible to conduct business activity remains an open question.

"I have two loans in different banks: one for UAH 16 million, one for UAH 10 million. We borrowed from bank in 2022,but the paper work was done in 2021. In January 2022, we purchased herbicides, fertilizers, and seeds using loans, but the war began and all the purchased was destroyed. In May, I need to return UAH 10 million to one bank and fully repay the debt of UAH 16 million by "5-7-9" by the end of the year - in the second," the farmer explains. 

During the full-scale invasion, the farm lost more than $4 million in products: around 5.5 thousand tons of grain and 3.5 thousand tons of sunflowers. The grown products were lost, and the total losses on the balance sheet amount to UAH 360 million.

"Everything is mined here, the farm is destroyed, there is no way to enter the field. They promise that they will demine when the Ministry of Defense gives permission. I was included in the first list for demining, but there is no permission yet," Oleksandr Havryliuk added.

Agrarians do not refuse to pay their loan debts. But in order to pay them off, you need to conduct economic activity - grow and sell crops. It is impossible to do this on the occupied lands. If the state does not make concessions regarding the loan repayment terms and their amounts, Ukrainian agriculture on the occupied lands will be lost.

The Ukrainian Agri Council is working to find a compromise between agrarians and banks. Loans must be repaid, but not during martial law, when farmers lack funds. Banks should listen to farmers and postpone the return of loan funds and provide preferential rates. The UAC has addressed the relevant proposals to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to solve the issue of loan repayment.

Thursday, 23 March 2023

 

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