In October, explosive ordnance disposal units of state bodies and non-governmental operators examined more than 22,000 hectares of agricultural land. In the last week alone, sappers surveyed 4,750 hectares of agricultural land. According to the data of military-civilian administrations, 234,759 hectares of land, of which almost 178,000 hectares have been returned to economic use, have been surveyed since the beginning of the year.

“At the beginning of the year, when we were developing a plan for the priority return of the most valuable Ukrainian lands to economic exploitation, we set an ambitious goal – to return up to 165,000 hectares to farmers this year. And today we can say that the goal has been achieved. Thanks to the heroic and intense work of our EOD technicians, almost 178 thousand hectares were returned to economic use. These are lands on which, according to the results of the survey, no mines and explosives were found, or cleared and demined lands. A very powerful result. We understand that it will be more difficult in the future. Survey and demining of lands, including those with a high density of pollution, are ahead. But we are preparing for it. We train sappers, work on equipping new units, purchasing machinery and equipment for demining. Our domestic production is gaining momentum – the first soil preparation machine made in Ukraine has already been handed over to sappers. We have the support of our international partners. That is why we are setting new goals for ourselves and moving towards their achievement,” Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine, said.

As a reminder, the plan for the priority return of agricultural lands provides for the priority survey and, if necessary, cleaning and demining of more than 470,000 hectares of agricultural land. The plan is expected to be implemented within four years. Lands are examined in order of priority, taking into account the density of pollution and the economic feasibility of cleaning. The latter, in turn, depends on the type of crops that are planned to be sown in the cleared territory. Thus, in the first place, the least contaminated lands with, in particular, perennial plantations and on which vegetable and melon crops are planned to be sown, are subject to demining.