Kiev plans to financial support domestic cotton producers

MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Ukraine will sow cotton on up to 30,000 hectares in 2025, and the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry plans to launch relevant financing programs for farmers who will start to grow cotton, Ukrainian media outlets cited Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Vitaly Koval as saying in a social media statement.

"Cotton is a crop that is used to make gunpowder. Besides, cotton can also be used in the production of fabrics and cotton oil," Koval said.

Ukraine is now finishing to collect its first cotton harvest, he said. Trial plantations were sown on eight farms and a land plot of the Ukrainian Institute for Plant Variety Examination in the Odessa region in the spring of this year. These are small plots, ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 hectares.

Ukrainian farmers have already received 110 kilograms of cottonseeds, which they have planted on an area of over 5 hectares. Five sorts of cottonseeds have been imported to Ukraine, including two from the United States, two from Germany, and one from Turkey.