During 2023, sappers surveyed 274,000 hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine, which is 58% of the planned volume for four years. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyridenko announced this on her Facebook account.
According to her, 208,000 hectares of these lands have already been transferred to agricultural use. Now it is known that these lands can produce almost 1 million tons of grain, bringing more than $225 million (8.4 billion hryvnias), if the harvested grain is exported abroad, or produce 750 thousand tons of flour, which is worth baking 6 million loaves of bread.
Regarding the possibilities of restoring agricultural production, Svyridenko noted that if farmers sow, for example, sunflower on already restored lands, it will lead to the production of approximately 266 million bottles of oil.
Speaking about the work of sappers and the demining situation, she added that as of the beginning of the year, the potentially mined area of Ukrainian land was 174,000 square kilometers, and at the moment this figure has decreased to 156,000 square kilometers. Noting the need for further work in this direction, she emphasized that in 10 years it is planned to return 80% of potentially mined territories to use.
Svyridenko also emphasized that at the moment there are almost 30 demining machines, 26 operators and more than 3,000 sappers operating in Ukraine.
