The government approved the concept of a national target program for land use and protection
On January 19, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the concept of a national target program for land use and protection at a meeting.
This was stated by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and food of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko.
“Having such a rich land fund, which exceeds 60 million hectares of land, Ukraine is simply obliged to protect and take care of its land. Moreover, 70% is agricultural land that provides us with food. Therefore, the formula is simple: the quality of soils is equal to the quality of food that we consume,” Roman Leshchenko stressed.
The minister stated that over the past ten years, the use of the state’s land and resource potential could not be called rational: millions of hectares of our land were in an extremely worn-out state, and there was no unified state system of land protection at all.
The land use and protection program should change the situation: it will be implemented comprehensively until 2032 and will be implemented in two stages. As a result, the structure of land and agricultural landscape will be optimized, plowing of the territory will be reduced by 10%, agricultural productivity will be increased by up to 50%, the threat to land resources from degradation processes will be reduced, and natural wetlands will be preserved.
So, the target program will include:
- development of land management schemes and feasibility studies for the use and protection of land of administrative territorial units;
- monitoring of land and soil quality with the creation of a geoinformation platform;
- prevention of unjustified withdrawal of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes;
- protection of land from harmful anthropogenic effects, reproduction and increase of soil fertility, increase of productivity of forest fund lands, compliance with a special regime for the use of protected lands.
The target program will ensure the sustainable development of land use, contribute to the creation of environmentally friendly living conditions for the population and farming. Its implementation will protect the land from depletion, degradation and pollution, reproduce and increase soil fertility, as well as preserve the functions of the soil cover.
“The land reform and, in particular, the introduction of the land market created additional opportunities for land users and landowners, but at the same time imposed a double responsibility to improve the protection of the Land Fund of Ukraine, the environment, and public health. We are preparing a corresponding draft law and will radically change approaches to efficient land use of land resources,” Roman Leshchenko summed up.