Ukraine has launched a mechanism of state compensation for humanitarian demining of agricultural land, which will become available at least within a month; the 2024 state budget provides UAH 3 billion for these purposes, said First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko.

"The government has adopted a corresponding resolution approving the procedure for compensating expenses. Farmers will be able to enter into contracts with both public and private demining operators who win an open and transparent tender. In total, we have allocated UAH 3 billion for the program for compensating expenses for humanitarian demining in the state budget for 2024," she said on Facebook.

According to the minister, compensation will be available to farmers in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions whose plots are contaminated and there is confirmation of a non-technical inspection.

Svyrydenko said that sanctioned agricultural producers with beneficiaries who are citizens of the aggressor country, as well as those in the process of bankruptcy/liquidation and those whose tax debt has not been repaid will not be able to receive compensation under this program.

In order for farmers to receive compensation for humanitarian demining, the farmer will have to submit an application to the State Agrarian Register (SAR), where an initial check will take place to determine whether the land really belongs to the farmer, whether it has passed a non-technical inspection and whether relevant contamination has been identified there. The Mine Action Center will also carry out an inspection within two weeks.

The procurement procedure for demining services shall be carried out through ProZorro, indicating the expected cost. After choosing the winner of the tender, the farmer shall contribute 20% of the amount determined during the auction, and the Ministry of Economy remaining 80%.

After clearing the site, the mine action operator shall send documents to the Humanitarian Demining Center for verification, and the bank will pay for the services.

"These are important steps to launch the humanitarian demining market. After all, an open and transparent procedure due to tender procedures is an opportunity to reduce corruption risks. We have provided several additional safeguards. If a farmer provides false information, he will be forced to return the funds received," the minister said.

According to Svyrydenko, tender procedures can reduce the cost of the mine action process. As an example, she cited the results of the first pilot tender for demining a forest area, during which it was possible to save UAH 100,000.

In addition, the minister of economy said that the mine action mechanism proposed by the government will help increase the number of mine action operators, will help increase the production of Ukrainian mine action equipment and strengthen the "Made in Ukraine" policy.

Speaking about the farmers' benefits, the minister indicated that the proposed humanitarian demining compensation mechanism will allow them to return the land to use, which will increase Ukraine's economic potential of and strengthen global food security.

"With a joint effort, we can return a safe land to people and give them the opportunity to live without fear of mines," the minister said.