Two farms from the de-occupied territories of Kherson region were able to save about UAH 2 million (USD55,000) and began to restore their operations thanks to legal assistance provided by the Ukrainian Agri Council with support from the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO). Their example will be useful for all agricultural producers affected by the war.

Andriy Povod is one of the co-owners of the agricultural companies ‘Glek’ and ‘Ukan’ in Kherson region. His farms cultivated about 1,500 hectares of land and were successful: they introduced innovative technologies and precision farming, paid rent to more than 500 shareholders on time, and financially supported the development of the local community. That was until the beginning of the war.

Injuries and more than USD7 million in losses

In the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the enterprise was occupied. The invaders stole everything from grain to machinery. On March 6, 2022, on the way to the farm, the occupiers fired at the owners' car and wounded one of them.

"I was driving with my father to the farm when our car was shot at by the Russian military. I received two gunshot wounds: one in the arm and one in the neck. While I was in the hospital, the Russians entered the farm, banished the guards and seized the enterprise. We had no access to the territory before the de-occupation. The Russians stole everything they could, and what they could not take away, they shot with guns and burned. The total losses of our farm amounted to more than USD7 million," said Andriy Povod.

Mined fields

After the de-occupation of the Kherson region in November 2022, Andriy Povod and his partners returned to the farm and are trying to restore its work. The main problem they faced was mined fields. State demining services are overworked, and the cost of private sappers is too high. On their own, the private enterprise "Ukan" and the farm "Glek" were able to clear only part of the fields and sowed a small area.

The resumption of farm operations was hampered by a lack of funding. In addition, immediately after the de-occupation, the farmers had to pay land taxes, which significantly worsened their difficult situation. However, in April 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law that allows local governments to grant individual tax benefits to farms whose fields are contaminated with explosive ordnance.

Many farmers do not know how to take advantage of this legal opportunity, and local government officials do not have a well-developed mechanism for its implementation. The lawyers of the Ukrainian Agri Council undertook to help resolve this issue by implementing a project initiated by the USAID AGRO Program to support affected agricultural producers.

Legal assistance

"In the summer, we tried to get these tax benefits. However, due to the lack of understanding of the procedure for obtaining the benefits, the submission of documents was delayed. In September, we contacted the legal advisory line launched by the UAC with the support of the USAID AGRO Program and received clarification and professional assistance. We were consulted on how to properly draw up an application, provided with examples of paperwork, and explained how to update the lists by cadastral numbers. We were also informed about our rights, how benefits work and what we can expect. At the end of September, we submitted applications for tax benefits with all the supporting documents. Later, we received an order from the military-civilian administration to grant tax benefits for the mined land plots," said Alla Tsykalyuk, accountant at the ‘Ukan’ PE.

With the help of qualified explanations from the UAC's specialists, the farms ‘Ukan’ and ‘Glek’ managed to obtain orders granting tax exemptions for mined fields. In total, they have already saved about UAH 2 million ($55,000).

"The tax benefits allowed us to work. Without them, we would have had to close the farm, because we would not have been able to operate because of the tax debt. Now, our farm is gradually resuming operations. We used the saved tax debt to pay for demining, salaries, and lease of agricultural machinery. We also managed to sow 400 hectares of winter crops in autumn," added Andriy Povod, co-owner of the farm.

Totally 90 calls were received by the UAC's advisory line, established with the support of the USAID AGRO Program. The farmers received professional legal advice on tax, demining, and lending issues. Another 76 farms with the help of project experts registered their losses at the Interactive map of the Ukrainian agricultural sector destructions.