5 million hectares of land in Ukraine unfit for cultivation due to war

The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Agrarian Committee, Oleksandr Haidu, said this, citing data from regional military administrations (RMAs).

According to him, it will not be possible to cultivate 5m ha or 50,000 km2 of agricultural land. The reasons: mines, contamination by explosive remnants or ongoing military operations.

For example, only 4.5m ha of winter crops have been planted, although last year they were planted on 7.7m ha. This directly affects the country's food security. So our priority today is to create the conditions for small and medium-sized farmers who lack the means to do it themselves, with help from international partners.

The Government has already approved a plan of humanitarian demining. First of all, this will include land in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions that were temporarily occupied.

In this way, it may be possible to demine between 30% and 60% of the territories.