Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Ministry to distribute 917-mln-hryvni state support among 14,000 agrarians

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry has earmarked 916.7 million hryvni to support 13,960 farmers who have submitted applications to the State Agrarian Register for obtaining assistance from the state, Ukrainian media have reported with reference to the agency's website.

In particular, 10,592 agrarians cultivating in total 248,000 hectares of arable lands will receive 769 million hryvni under a state program of subsidies whose size depends on the size of the land they cultivate, and another 3,368 participants will receive 148 million hryvni in grants for keeping 27,864 cows of all types of productivity.

In early September, the State Agrarian Register announced a support program for agrarian producers of two categories, namely agrarians cultivating from 1 to 120 hectares of arable lands (3,100 hryvni per hectare) and those keeping from 3 to 100 cows (5,300 hryvni per cow).

The ministry is also processing over 15,000 other applications, in addition to those already approved, it said. That said, the registration for obtaining government support has been suspended until the submitted applications are processed and the remaining funds for grants and subsidies are calculated.

The State Agrarian Register is an automated electronic system available to all agricultural producers regardless of their business status. The register is designed to provide government services, streamline access to bank financing and credit guarantee programs, pursue targeted government support programs, and assess their efficiency.

The project is being implemented in coordination with the State Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadaster Service and the Justice Ministry and with assistance from the World Bank's and the European Union's project on Supporting Transparent Land Governance in Ukraine, as well as a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agricultural development program.

The program of assistance to small agricultural producers in the two abovementioned sectors worth in total 50 million euros (over 1.5 billion hryvni) is financed owing to the EU's budget support and complies with European practices, including the Production Grant Scheme (PGS) mechanism widely applied in the EU.