Ukraine is one of the most contaminated countries in the world with mines and other explosive devices, the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy reports.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the situation in Ukraine with land contamination by explosives endangers the lives and health of about 6.37 million people. Farmers have been particularly affected by mines since February 2022, with 128 of them killed.
Also, according to the Ukrainian Deminers Association, the most severe mine situation is currently in Kherson, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Donetsk regions. Ukraine needs USD 37 billion to clear land mines.
At the same time, the Government of Ukraine has approved a programme to compensate farmers for the costs of humanitarian demining of agricultural land, including for farmers who have already cleared their own land. By the end of the year, the state budget provides UAH 3 billion to finance the programme.
The programme envisages that the state will reimburse 80% of the cost of humanitarian demining of agricultural land. Under the programme, such farmland must be cleared of mines by certified mine action operators.
Farmers can already apply for compensation to the Humanitarian Demining Centre.
In addition, farmers who are only planning to start demining their own agricultural land or work as tenants can apply for compensation. They can do so through the State Agrarian Register. After that, their applications are processed by the Humanitarian Demining Centre, which announces the relevant tenders in the Prozorro system. All interested certified mine action operators will be able to participate in these tenders, which will determine the cost of demining at open tenders in the system.