In March, field engineer units of governmental and non-governmental operators examined more than 26,5 thousand hectares of agricultural land and returned almost 23,5 thousand hectares to economic use. In total, since the beginning of the year, 80,3 thousand hectares of land have been surveyed, of which about 74 thousand hectares have been returned to use. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine, with reference to Regional Military Administration data.
"During March, our pyrotechnicians returned about 23,5 thousand hectares of land to farmers. In total, about 74 thousand hectares have been returned to use since the beginning of the year. This, conditionally, plus 350 thousand tons of wheat, which farmers will harvest this year from fields cleared of mines and explosives. It is important that as of the end of March, 80% of the returned space was already being actively used for its intended purpose," noted Yuliia Svyrydenko.
As the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine emphasized, the Government is comprehensively solving the problems of accelerating the clearance of mines from the territory of Ukraine.
"We are working in all specific areas. In March, we adopted a procedure for compensation to farmers who will order services for humanitarian land demining. This is an important step towards launching a market for humanitarian demining. We signed an agreement with Palantir – advanced technologies for big data analysis and artificial intelligence will help us organize survey and mine clearance work more efficiently. We are very actively working on the implementation of home-grown technologies and strengthening the capabilities of operators by purchasing Ukrainian machinery and equipment," noted Yuliia Svyrydenko.
According to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine, March saw an increase in the number of units engaged in humanitarian and operational demining, as well as the number of mineclearing vehicles involved in the work.