Due to the full-scale invasion of Russia, the Ukrainian agricultural sector has suffered losses of more than USD 80 billion. More than USD50 billion is needed to restore and reconstruct agricultural infrastructure. This was announced by Denys Marchuk, the UAC Deputy Chairman during a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center.

He noted that today the Russian military continues to deliberately strike intensively at the fields, destroying crops in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In particular, in Kherson region, there are many cases when the Russian military deliberately launches drones to set crops on fire.

"People who have de-mined their land plots are losing 20-30 hectares due to arson. These are large volumes and enormous losses. They lose the opportunity to sell their products, which is the main source of their income. Without this income, farmers cannot repay the loans they took out to develop their farms. The lack of harvest means they will not be able to fulfill their financial obligations to banks, which threatens them with bankruptcy," said Denis Marchuk.

According to the expert, today the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered the draft law "On Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine on Lending for the Period of Martial Law" (No. 11180-1), which will prohibit banks from collecting loan payments from business entities whose production facilities were located in the territories of active hostilities or temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as of February 24, 2022. Farmers are asking peoples’ deputies to put this draft law to a vote as soon as possible, which will support them, facilitate the resumption of economic activity and further fulfill obligations to creditor banks for previously raised loans.

Another problem for the agricultural sector is the increase in fuel excise taxes initiated by the government with the draft law No. 11256-2 "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on the Implementation of the Provisions of the European Union Excise Tax Acts". According to Denys Marchuk, this law creates an additional burden for the agricultural sector. The industry has to pay for public roads that agricultural machinery does not use.

"If today we pay 139 EUR per thousand liters of fuel, then after the adoption of the bill, excise taxes will increase every year starting from September, and by 2028, farmers will have to pay EUR330. This means that in 2025, farmers will have to pay an additional UAH 5 billion, and in 2028 - UAH 14 billion for roads they do not use. This will have a negative impact on the agricultural sector, especially on grain production," emphasized Mr. Marchuk.

Moreover, since this is a European integration bill, no one took into account the fact that Ukrainian farmers will pay five times more excise tax than their European counterparts, which puts the domestic agricultural sector in a non-competitive position.

"Our products will be uncompetitive in terms of price on the European market. Therefore, it is important that this week, when voting, peoples’ deputies take into account the amendment to the draft law No. 11256-2, which is emphasized by agricultural producers and provides for a reduction in the excise tax rate for agricultural producers after the end of the war. I would like to note that during the war, agricultural producers are ready to pay because they understand that funds are needed to win, but after the war, the excise tax should be fair," Marchuk summarized.