The "Ukrainian Agricultural Council" (UAC) continues to work on protecting the interests of agricultural producers in the walls of the parliament. In particular, today, with the assistance of the UAC, a meeting between the leader of the “Opozytsiynyy blok” (Opposition Bloc) Yuriy Boyko and the farmers of the Vinnytsia region was held. During the meeting, the most important issues of concern to agricultural producers were discussed.
This meeting was organized in the framework of the future signing of a memorandum between the UAC and the opposition bloc party on joint reformation of the agrarian sector. Recall that earlier the UAC signed an appropriate document with the parties “Association “Samopomich” and “Batʹkivshchyna”. The text of this memorandum is open and has been proposed for signature to all parliamentary political parties without exception.
During the meeting, the parties spoke about the importance of intensifying the fight against raids, which in recent times has become horrible in Ukraine, the importance of conducting an effective land reform. In addition, agrarians complained about the increase in fertilizer prices on the domestic market. Farmers said that further price increases for domestic fertilizers would reduce the profitability of wheat and make it unprofitable to grow it in the southern regions of Ukraine.
According to farmers in the Vinnytsia region, due to specific climatic conditions it is not easy for them to find a replacement for wheat. In particular, the most widespread alternative in the given region - sunflower - can become only a short-term solution to the problem. The saturation of crop rotation with sunflower seeds leads to the spread of diseases and parasites, as well as to the drying and depletion of soils. In order to grow only sunflower, it is necessary to perform fungicidal treatment of soil twice or three times during vegetation, and these are expensive preparations, and to switch to the use of moisture-saving technologies.
According to the research conducted by the NSC "Institute of Agrarian Economics", the consulting agency "Ukragrokonsult" and the "Social Monitoring" center on request of the UAC, the loss of the domestic agricultural sector due to a shortage of crops due to high prices for nitrogen fertilizers within the country annually exceeds 32 billion UAH. Because of the high prices for fertilizers, farmers make them much less than normal. As a result, Ukrainian soils are depleted - every year, every hectare of Ukrainian agricultural land loses from 200 to 400 kg of nutrients.
In Ukraine fertilizer prices exceed 40-50% worldwide. Prior to this, according to surveyed farmers, corruption in public authorities and the monopoly position of a separate producer - Ostchem group owned by businessman Dmitry Firtash and dictating their rules of the game in the market.
