Today, during the Ukrainian Investment Congress Ukraine Agro with the participation of Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Vitalii Koval, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Agrarian Committee Oleksandr Haidu and representatives of agrarian business, Deputy Chairman of the UAC Denys Marchuk emphasized the need to strengthen support for the agricultural sector in times of war.

“The Ukrainian Agri Council, which unites more than 1,300 enterprises with a land bank of more than 4 million hectares, cannot stand aside from the issues that concern Ukraine today. It is extremely important to support farmers whose enterprises are under occupation and in the frontline areas, as they took out loans for business development before the full-scale invasion. Today, banks are demanding to repay the loans. So, in fact, there have been three years of war in Ukraine and three years of struggle between farmers and banks after they have lost everything,” Marchuk said.

One of the key initiatives is the draft law No. 12148 “On Amendments to the Final and Transitional Provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine regarding the specifics of lending and financial leasing during martial law”.

“This document provides for a temporary prohibition on the enforcement of debt collection from farmers whose property is located in combat zones or temporarily occupied territories for the period of martial law and for one year after its completion. The draft law has already been passed in the first reading and is awaiting consideration in the second reading. It is currently being reviewed by the Parliament's Legal Committee. Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to once again ask to speed up the consideration of this draft law,” Marchuk urged.

In addition, he emphasized the importance of increasing funding for farmers, especially those who work in the frontline and frontline areas.

“Today, farmers receive 2,000-4,000 UAH per hectare of support. This is not enough for development. The most effective program is the 5-7-9 lending program, which is a concessional loan that allows farmers to conduct business in wartime, save jobs and pay taxes. But for the sake of development, it is important to increase these limits from 90 million to 150 million UAH for all agricultural enterprises,” he emphasized.

One of the main wishes of the agricultural sector is to introduce insurance mechanisms.

“This is one of the key issues for agribusiness. In addition to military risks, there are also climate risks that are increasingly affecting the harvest every year. The introduction of insurance will help minimize losses and make the agricultural sector more stable,” Mr. Marchuk concluded.