Farmers of Odesa region are in danger of complete bankruptcy, and the sowing campaign of 2021 is in danger of failure: in the region due to the drought in addition to winter crops, spring crops are almost lost too. Winter crop in the region is lost on more than 300 thousand hectares. Part of these areas were sown by agricultural producers with spring crops - corn, sunflower, millet. However, due to bad weather, they lost this crop too.

"We sowed twice this year and did not collect anything twice. In Bessarabia, 80% of farms, that lost winter crops, managed to borrow sow spring ones by borrowing money from banks. Now, about 30% of the area is already lost. Another 30% see that there is no chance to collect something. Therefore, about 70% of replanted crops will be lost too” - Oleksandr Denysenko, the Head of “Agro Yug Company” from the Belgorod-Dniester district of Odesa region said.

The farmer says that in addition to the drought, the storm "passed" through the fields, which turned into hail. As a result, it destroyed 82 hectares of sunflower and 130 hectares of millet on his farm.

In the Izmail district of Odesa region, many farms replanted winter areas, but now they are forced to process corn into silage, and sunflower fields - to rediscover: there is no crop.

"They were sown after wheat, barley, rapeseed - the head of AE “Ratushnenko M.I.” Mykola Ratushnenko said. - Previous crops have absorbed all the remaining moisture. At the end of May, the rains passed a little, but they were local and in the form of showers, so there is no positive result: all the glass and the earth remained the same dry. The plants rose to 50-60 cm. The corn did not even develop well and the sunflower in some places formed a head, and in some - no. We did not reseed anything on our farm. After the death of winter crops, they searched these areas and left them under steam: they did not see any economic benefit in reseeding” - the agricultural producer said.

LLC “Kolos” of Yurii Yalovchuk, which is located in the Velykomykhailivsk district of Odesa region, also hoped for a spring crop. However, the prospects are bleak.

"We sowed wheat, rapeseed, and barley in the fall, and in spring - barley, peas, corn, and sunflowers from spring crops. In general, only 500 tons of grain were harvested from 2,000 hectares. Rapeseed has been lost since autumn, and the yield of other winter crops is 2-3 centners per hectare. We did not collect a thousand hectares at all. We thought that we would correct the situation at the expense of corn. But it dried up. And all the corn that we sowed for grain, we have to mow the silage. We still hope for sunflower, but we lose it every day, because it also dries. We have 450 shareholders. According to the contract, they need to issue 2 tons of grain, which requires 900 tons. And we have only 500, so now we have decided to issue half" - the farmer said.

The loss of two crops after the previous crop failure year is catastrophic for agricultural producers. They don’t have an opportunity to pay rents and taxes. Farmers note: social tension increase in the region, and it is going to intensify. Local budgets will not get a big part of earnings.

At the same time, what will happen in the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Economy of Ukraine has promised to developed funds and to give a compensation for winter crops losses. However, farmers did not get anything. Moreover, this week the Minister of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Economy of Ukraine Igor Petrashko, mentioned that the Ministry didn’t find any mechanisms for compensation for winter crops losses.

"This is not true: there is a mechanism for compensation for farmers and Ukrainian Agri Council has repeatedly emphasized this issue and proposed it for consideration and implementation. Both, the Ministry and the Government are well aware of the UAC's proposals. After all, we raised this issue in the spring and voiced it during a meeting with farmers, which took place after their protest outside the Cabinet of Ministers and the President's Office" - the Deputy Chairman of UAC Denys Marchuk said.

In particular, Ukrainian Agri Council proposes:

• redistribute funds from the budget program "Financial support for agricultural producers", for which 4 billion UAH has been allocated, by amending the government decree of February 8, 2017 № 77. 1.2 billion UAH is provided for "Financial support for measures in the agro-industrial complex by reducing loans". Funds from this area can be used to compensate farmers’ losses because of the drought
• money for agricultural producers can also be allocated from the reserve fund of the budget. The terms of use of such funds provide for their return. However, due to amendments to paragraph 11 of the Procedure for the use of the reserve fund of the budget, it is possible to provide for the allocation of funds on a non-refundable basis to economic entities. In particular, in the situation of a threat to Ukraine's food security caused by the consequences of natural emergencies.

UAC calls on the Ministry of Economic Development, the Government and the parliament to use both proposed mechanisms for allocating funds!