On Thursday, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, attended the opening of the conference "Organic Processing and Sale. Kyiv 2010." In his opening address, the Deputy Chairman emphasised that the organic development was on a vast scale in Ukraine. "We have several producers who are ready to set fair market prices, even though they produce goods without chemical additives."
According to M. Tomenko, although this sector of agricultural production is growing, its activity remains beyond the legislative framework. He informed the participants about the history of legislative support of organic production in Ukraine. M. Tomenko also stated that together with Yurii Lytvyn he submitted the bill "On Organic Production" (Reg. No. 7003) that guarantees rational use of soil, healthcare and protection of the environment, as it gives impetus to the organic production in Ukraine, arranges favourable conditions for production and consumption of organic produce, and forms a comprehensive system of organic sector development in Ukraine. The bill sets the principles of the governmental policy and the fundamentals of organic production; determines the authorities of administration bodies; fixes the general requirements for production, processing and sale of organic produce.
M. Tomenko emphasised that the specialized committee had already scrutinized the bill and recommended adopting it in the first reading. He expects that People´s Deputies will also support the bill, as its adoption increases the rates of production, competitive ability of the agricultural goods and their quality.
M. Tomenko admitted that experience of the European countries proved that life expectancy and standards could not be raised without healthy food. "Ukraine is almost a single state in Europe that has not supported such a production mode yet", he emphasised.