Ukraine set to return 470,000 ha of agri-land to operation this year - Svyrydenko

Ukraine plans to increase the number of humanitarian demining programs and return up to 35% (470,000 hectares) of potentially contaminated 170,000 square kilometers of agricultural land this year.

First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko stated this at an online meeting with the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme Cindy McCain, Ukrinform reports, citing Ukraine's Ministry of Economy.

"Ukraine is interested in increasing the number of humanitarian demining programs and expanding existing ones initiated by international institutions. We’d want to scale up the joint project of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) to demine the lands of small farmers and support agricultural producers," Svyrydenko said.

She noted that the government is working to strengthen the capacity of demining operators. An account for humanitarian demining has been opened on the United24 platform for support of Ukraine.

Cindy McCain, in turn, emphasized that WFP fully supports Ukraine's desire to clear the area as soon as possible and will continue to help, including demining.

It is important that Ukrainian farmers do not lose another season, the WFP executive director said.

As reported, a pilot project of WFP, FAO, and FSD was launched in June in Kharkiv region. It involves the clearance of explosive ordnance from the lands of small farmers whose land area does not exceed 300 hectares. It is planned to expand the project to Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. The USD 100 million project requires USD 90 million in funding. According to FAO and WFP, the economic benefits of the project could be up to USD 60 million per year.