The Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC) continues to establish cooperation with political parties, as well as candidates for the post of President of Ukraine to jointly conduct effective reforms in the agricultural sector and ensure the development of rural areas.

To this end, on Friday, February 1, the UAC signed a memorandum on joint reformation of the agrarian sector with Yuriy Boyko, candidate for the post of President of Ukraine and co-chairman of the Inter-faction Deputy Association "Opposition Platform – For Life".

Prior to this, UAC signed the relevant memorandums: on March 23, 2018, with the party "All-Ukrainian Union “Batkivshchyna", and on August 3 - with the political party "Self Reliance".

The signing of this document obliges the parties to jointly conduct consultations, coordinate their own positions and implement measures for realization of the provisions stipulated in the Memorandum in order to implement reforms in the field of agriculture.

In the end, the parties expect that joint implementation of reforms will lead to an increase in agrarian production, rural employment, tax revenues, foreign exchange earnings, and increased investment in agriculture.

By signing the moratorium, the parties have determined that the key principles of the new agricultural policy of Ukraine are: to take into account the views of farmers, including ensuring the participation of representatives of the UAC in the development of measures and draft laws and regulations that affect the interests of the agrarian sector; to increase of competitiveness of agrarians; to ensure the inviolability of the property rights of shareholders and land users, simplifying the procedures of import and export operations of the agrarian sector products; to provide support to existing and promoting the formation and development of new agricultural cooperatives; as well as deregulation and demonopolization.

The parties devoted considerable attention to improving the state support of the agrarian sector. Thus, they propose to allocate funds allocated for state support of livestock breeding for the payment of subsidies under the program "quasi-accumulation of VAT", which operated in 2017. At the same time, the parties insist that the budget subsidy referred to should be in force for the next 5 years, and the funds should be distributed in proportion to the proceeds from the sale of products resulting from the implementation of subsidized activities.

In addition, the text of the memorandum indicates the need to return the norm on the reimbursement of value added tax on operations for the export of oilseeds from Ukraine's customs territory, as well as equalizing the tax burden on 1 hectare of commercial land in legal agricultural producers of commodity producers on the one hand and "shadow farmers" from the other.

The memorandum stipulates the extension of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land until the decision on its abolition at the All-Ukrainian referendum is adopted. At the same time, this decision should not be taken until the effective mechanisms of lending to the agrarian sector have been introduced, as well as the corresponding legislative provision for the implementation of land reform has been adopted.

Also, the parties agreed to direct joint efforts to combat the shadow market of land lease and raiding.

Other no less important areas are: development of the cooperative movement, protection of interests of producers and consumers of food products, land reclamation, overcoming of the logistical crisis, stabilization of the price situation on the market of mineral fertilizers, combating corruption at all levels of state power, etc.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Agri Council emphasizes that the text of the memorandum is open to all political parties and groups. Therefore, the UAC expects to further sign the memorandum with other parliamentary parties, as well as candidates for the post of President of Ukraine.

Certificate. The Ukrainian Agri Council is a voluntary, non-governmental organization that unites producers from all over Ukraine to jointly protect the interests of the agrarian sector of Ukraine and ensure its sustainable development. Currently, UAC comprises 450 farms from different regions. The total land area of ​​the union members is 2.1 million hectares.