An awareness campaign has been launched in Ukraine to promote the national program to compensate farmers for the cost of clearing their lands from mines and other explosive remnants of war. The campaign will be implemented by the Ministry of Economy, the national platform Demine Ukraine, and the Humanitarian Demining Center with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and with funding from the Republic of Korea. Thus, the Government is seeking to engage the greatest possible number of farmers in the farmland demining cost compensation program, given that only approximately ten percent of the three billion hryvnias budgeted for humanitarian demining projects for this year has been issued to farmers so far.
Ukrinform requested Volodymyr Baida, director of the Humanitarian Demining Center, for more information about the prospects for implementing and expanding the demining cost compensation program and finding additional sources of funding.
200 OUT OF 240 COMPENSATION APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED BY FARMERS WERE REJECTED. WHY?
– Mr. Volodymyr, why do we have to resort to a dedicated campaign to promote the national program, which has been in operation for over six months now, and which our farmers should have already been well aware of?
– The campaign is aimed to improve the quality of application preparation by Ukrainian farmers – potential participants in the compensation program for the cost of farmland demining — and to improve the provision of information to those farmers who are still unaware of the opportunities provided by the program. We strive to increase the amount of farmland to be returned to productive use.
To this end, it is crucial to improve awareness among farmers, since a situation has arisen where we have the funds to implement the national program (international donors are helping), the requisite mechanisms have been set in place, and the domestic humanitarian demining market is rapidly growing, but despite this all, this resource is being implemented at a slow pace as just approximately UAH 300 million of the UAH 3 billion budgeted for the program for this year has been reserved for contracts so far.
– Overall, farmers have submitted 400+ cost compensation applications under this program since September 2024. That is, we are currently talking about hundreds of potential participants. What the result can we expect in the future – thousands, tens of thousands?
– It is difficult to calculate. Among the 436 applications submitted by farmers so far, there are applications for 5 hectares, and there are applications for 3 thousand hectares, for example. Here everything will depend on the level of land contamination. Indeed, we would like to see fewer applications submitted so that we are able to extend assistance to all who really need it. But we understand: in conditions where there are up to 2 million hectares of potentially contaminated lands across the country, there remains a good deal of humanitarian demining work to be done.
The plan for this year includes the survey of more than 80 thousand hectares. Since the launch of the program, 14 thousand hectares have already been embraced by demining services. At the same time, there is no direct relation between the number of applications submitted and the acreage of the land where the work is being carried out, since each farmer has his own troubles, the contamination levels are different, as is the acreage of land plots. We expect that there will probably be several thousand applications coming in from potential program participants, and we will try to satisfy them all.
Photo
– During the presentation of the awareness campaign, it was emphasized that the lion’s share of applications submitted by farmers this year so far was, unfortunately, rejected due to errors found in application forms. Why is that so?
– We need to be aware that the funds that are raised for the program are donors’ money, the money from international organizations. Actually, in this instance, we are talking about the funds provided under the Ukraine Facility program. And the control over the use of this resource is very tough. Therefore, we carefully investigate each application to ensure it meets the conditions of the program. After all, Ukraine will have to report on this to its partners.
Since the beginning of the year, 241 applications have been submitted, of which 200 have been rejected. The largest number – 105 applications – have been rejected due to the failure to conduct a non-technical survey (NTS) of land plots. That is, farmers submit applications without providing proofs that their lands are really contaminated. Non-technical survey is a simple procedure that can be obtained in two ways: either the farmer will pay a relatively small fee (1200-1500 UAH per hectare) to any certified mine action operator, or through applying for participation in fee-free NTS programs. We have agreed with regional military administrations that such services will be provided free of charge to those farmers who cannot conduct a survey at their own expense. And regional administrations do so, donors support the relevant programs. In the Kharkiv region, for instance, 20 thousand hectares are being surveyed in this way, and applications for the clearance of these lands will be submitted for compensation under the national program. Therefore, by and large, all a farmer is required to do to be admitted into the program is willingness and awareness of the program conditions and features.
Another 26 applications were rejected due to the applicants’ tax debts. It is generally acknowledged that if the Government spends money on returning farmlands to productive use, these lands must then be cultivated. That said, we must make sure the money is spent for a good reason: the farmer will start working – for own benefit and for the benefit of the country.
Indeed, we understand that there are farmers who have lost everything they had due to the war. To support them, we are working with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) so that after their land plots are cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance, international partners will provide such farms with loans, will help with planting material, equipment, etc.
Regarding tax debts, only debt on land tax is allowed: of course, if farmers do not use their land plots, they are supposed to pay for them. Exemptions are also possible for those who are in the unified tax system, Group IV. In other cases, tax debts are not allowed, and the absence of tax debts is a mandatory condition for enrollment in the demining cost compensation program.
Some farmers from Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia, and other regions remote from the areas of hostilities, where farmers are not eligible for participation in the demining cost compensation program, apply for compensation. Such applications are simply rejected without consideration. But where we see that this is not just a mistake, but an attempted abuse of this program, we will contact law enforcement agencies, since such conscious actions by farmers take up time from our employees to investigate inapt applications.
Another reason why incorrect application are numerous is that farmers failed to sort out which of the national support programs they are applying to, and used the website to apply for support under some other programs – for example, on budget subsidies per hectare of agricultural land under cultivation, or assistance with seed material.
– During the presentation of the awareness campaign, there were suggestions made to soften the requirement on the mandatory non-technical survey before submitting an application for enrollment in the national program. After all, this is both about additional costs levied on farmers and about difficulties with finding qualified specialists for this job. Will this be done, and what it needs to be done?
– There are enough specialists to conduct NTS in Ukraine. At the time the Humanitarian Demining Center began its operations, there were 20-30 mine action operators in Ukraine, now there are 89 of them, including eight international operators. Immediately after joining this program last year, we entered into close cooperation with market participants. And we are seeing now that, even if we are talking about two dozen major operators, they have the combined capacity to demine 2,000 hectares per month and conduct non-technical surveys on 3,000 hectares. I estimate this is enough for now.
In addition, such work is performed by both the operators from the State Service for Emergencies and the State Special Transport Service. That is, if a farmer is willing so, ordering such services present no great difficulty.
Photo
– And what about the funding? The numbers that you provided suggest that conducting an NTS on 100 hectares will cost UAH 120-150 thousand. Probably, not every farmer can afford such expenses during the sowing season. Hence the suggestions to discard the requirement for a preliminary non-technical survey.
– The abolition of the requirement for a mandatory preliminary NTS would significantly complicate the problem of processing groundless applications. Nowadays, in the light of the tight resource environment, the possibility of abandoning the requirement for a non-technical survey is only theoretical. We need to realize: this is the first time in Ukraine and globally that such programs are launched into operation. Therefore, control over the use of the provided resource is very thorough, and we cannot afford ambiguous interpretations or unjustified approaches to surveying land plots for mine contamination. After all, such an approach is consistent with the world practice of humanitarian demining.
– During the presentation, farmers complained about the State Land Cadastre lacking information about particular land plots. Do you see ways to solve this problem?
– The question of cadastres, of their content and the way the information is displayed to the users is not a recent issue, it has been relevant for a dozen years. Therefore, this is a question not so much for the Humanitarian Demining Center, but more for the organizations and agencies in charge of land management. We work quite fruitfully with the State Geocadastre, they too are aware of the numerous issues that need to be addressed, and that there are land plots that are missing in registers. Somewhere data is missing on land plot owners, somewhere the plots being used are missing in electronic databases, many data gaps do exist, many plots are leased, subleased – somewhere there are confirmed lease agreements, somewhere there are none… We understand this problem and are trying to solve it by involving communities in the next iteration of the demining compensation program, where not only farmers, but also amalgamated territorial communities (ATC) will be able to submit applications for enrollment.
HIGH LEVEL OF COMPETITION AT AUCTIONS. HOW DOES THIS AFFECT PRICES?
– Could you elaborate on the program’s progress achieved over the six months since it was launched? Does it satisfy you?
— Approximately 1,400 hectares of farmland have been returned to economic use so far.
We currently have 436 applications under consideration, have held 69 auctions for approximately 14.200 hectares of agricultural land. The demining work is expected to cost UAH 844 million. Let me remind you that UAH 3 billion is budgeted for the program every year, but in 2024, we began implementing the program at the end of the year, so, of course, we were unable to absorb all the funds provided. In order to make the most of the resource provided for 2025, we initiated the awareness campaign.
To date, 60 contracts worth a total of UAH 675.9 million have been concluded to procure demining services, and 1,400 hectares of farmland have been returned to productive use. This is the result of the work carried out under thirteen small contracts, and work on many contracts is still in progress.
In 2025 so far, 241 applications were submitted for 39.900 hectares, and 36 applications for 16.200 hectares are being investigated. Two hundred, like I’ve said above, have been rejected. This year, 19 auctions were held (4.500 hectares, the expected cost of demining is UAH 307.4 million), and 10 contracts were signed for procurement of demining services for 2,200 hectares of agricultural land at the aggregate cost of UAH 139.3 million.
A special mention should be made about the cost of services provided by mine action operators under the program. At Prozorro auctions held in 2024-2025, we made bids for demining services at a total estimated cost of UAH 789.2 million, but this was ultimately auctioned down to UAH 669.6 million. In other words, we saved UAH 119.6 million or 15.1% of the bidding price. I think it’s a very good achievement, given the tight government budget and the fact that we are at war.
In the first quarter of this year, we signed contracts worth 15.4% below the price we auctioned, which amounts to millions of hryvnias saved for the national budget.
Photo
– Ho much does it cost to clear one hectare of farmland from mines and unexploded ordnance “from the beginning and on“, as you might say? What does the price of services depend on – the number of bidders, the number of mine action operators, the acreage, the region, or whatever?
– The methodology for determining the price offered by the Ministry of Economy is clear and understandable: all the lands are subdivided into three categories by density of contamination (a lot of different indicators are taken into account). According to this methodology, the expected cost of the work is estimated (taking into account the operator’s basic costs and how difficult a plot is to clear of mines). Currently, this cost ranges between UAH 56,000 to UAH 79.2000 per hectare, which gives an average of UAH 65,000-68,000 per hectare.
– Is this cost expected or actual?
– The expected one, which we offer for Prozorro auctions. Based on the results of the auctions, it usually falls down to an average of approx. UAH 58-62,000 per hectare.
It is clear that the cost of services is a very complex element. After all, when the relevant work began, we were told about 10-20-30 thousand dollars per hectare. Yes, the average world price is three dollars per square meter, that is, 30 thousand per hectare, and we had such precedents in Ukraine. But a competitive market decides a lot. When we first started holding auctions for the procurement of services under the national program on demining cost compensation, we were “warned” that this could end up in a fiasco, because, they said, there would be no operators willing to participate. In fact, operators are actively trading and competing with each other. While as few as eight operators participated in the bidding last year, now there are almost 20 of them. That is, businesses are increasingly interested in the program’s opportunities and capabilities.
– Who are usually participating in these biddings? Are these market newcomers or representatives of international operators with decades-long experience of participating in such auctions?
– The majority are Ukrainian companies. They are all newcomers, with 2-3 years on the market. International operators are also taking part – not all of them, of course. This is perhaps due to the imbalance between the price we can offer and the cost of work they are accustomed to working elsewhere. And this is neither their fault nor ours, because they really take on the most difficult work.
Here we are talking only about the agricultural lands that are relatively easy to demine. But where forested areas, complex industrial facilities, power lines, water pipelines, canals are concerned, everything is by far more complicated and therefore more expensive, of course. So we must understand that the total cost of demining territories in Ukraine will be higher, and more resources are needed for this.
Indeed, we would like international operators to be more actively engaged in the bidding. I think that when we can expand the program to include forests, rivers and lakes – more foreign companies will compete in the auctions, since we will be able to offer a higher price.
But, on the other hand, we need to understand: the Government cannot invest tens of thousands of dollars in clearing a hectare of land, which was priced at an estimated, for example, one thousand dollars or euros before the full-scale invasion and now, due to contamination, it can cost 300-500 dollars. After all, the donors will then ask where we spent so much money. Maybe, it is better to demine more areas for less money that can be easily returned to economic use now, and only then take on more difficult tasks.
Photo
THE PROGRAM HAS UNDERGONE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN HALF A YEAR. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?
– How has the program changed during this time? I know, in particular, that the changes concerned the parameters of the land plots that can be put up for auctions for the provision of agricultural land demining services.
– The program initially provided that only 50% of the cost of the demining work would be compensated by the Government, and the other 50% by the farmer. We insisted that the compensation from the Government should cover 100% of the costs incurred. Then the program was changed, with the proportion of cost sharing set at 80 percent for the Government and 20 percent for the farmer. But this approach, however, did not bring the expected results either. And it wasn’t until we managed to raise the Government’s share to 100 percent that the program began to work.
The approach to selecting the land plots eligible for demining cost compensation under the program has changed as well. In particular, we abolished the rule that required operators to provide documents proving they had executed similar contracts for demining land plots smaller than 50 hectares. We did this to enable small, newly established operators to start providing services. This motivated them a lot, because now an operator, even unexperienced one, can come and work on a land plot smaller than 50 hectares. In the future, we plan to divide large plots exceeding 200 hectares into smaller lots. This is better for both operators and farmers, because the operator will launch these plots into economic use sooner and will be able to earn more money for operational activities, while the farmer will be able to start working on the surveyed part of the land earlier, rather than waiting until all of 800 or 1,000 hectares are cleared of mines.
Other changes to the program include:
● the aforementioned abolition of the restriction on submitting applications for farmers who have a land tax debt or debt on the unified tax, provided that they are payers of Unified Tax Group IV;
● the introduction of compensation for the costs incurred in non-technical surveys, even if a land plot is found non-contaminated;
● the introduction of a new methodology for calculating the cost of work, which provides a more fair and transparent approach to the pricing of demining services.
In furthermore to this, the new rules oblige a farmer to open an escrow bank account, where the Government- provided funds are stored until the mine action operator completes all planned work, immediately after the application is approved rather than after the auction, as was the case previously. The deadline for submitting applications has been extended until December 25, 2025. Applications submitted before December 5 will be considered in the current fiscal year, while others will be postponed to the next fiscal year.
– The Cabinet of Ministers has recently updated the rules for compensating agricultural producers for the costs incurred in humanitarian demining. What is it about?
– According to these changes, only those farmers who are actually engaged in agricultural production on their own or leased land are now eligible for compensation.
In addition, the deadline for opening an escrow bank account has been extended from five to ten business days after application approval. If the farmer fails to open the bank account on due time, the Center rejects the application within two days and notifies the applicant. Re-submission of the application after its rejection is not prohibited.
A new rule has been introduced: if the land plot is partially contaminated, after demining work is completed, the certified mine action operator must submit a localized report on the results of non-technical survey. The format of the report is decided by the Mine Action Center in accordance with national standards in the field of mine action.
– What’s on your plan for improving the program in the future? For example, will it be expanded to include forest lands in need of demining, like you said, as well as community lands and garden plots?
– We would like the next step to be expanding the program to cover forested lands. But the problem is that the Ukraine Facility funds are intended for demining agricultural lands only. And there is no other resource available to us so far. But we are going to negotiate with partners the possibility of expanding the scope of the funding program so that we can deal with forests, rivers, lakes, industrial and infrastructure facilities.
A separate issue concerns community lands. Demining forest belts is a particularly painful issue. We know from news reports what is happening there, especially in areas affected by hostilities. This stage of demining will be especially difficult, because people are walking there, vehicles are driving, just like in the forests.
Therefore, when thinking about scaling up the program, we plan to take careful and measured steps. We understand where to go. We need funds. And to get them, we have to demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency.
Photo
– Is there a vision of where this additional financial resource can come from?
– Needless to say, we communicate with all donor organizations who are represented in Ukraine and are working under the auspices of the United Nations Organization and other international institutions. Any donor, any international partner will not provide funds unless they believe the result will be worth the money invested. And now we want to implement the first project with the involvement of the well-known fundraising platform UNITED24. We picked three different plots – the territory of a hospital in the Kherson region, infrastructure facilities in the village of Hrakove in the Kharkiv region (a playground, a school, a kindergarten, a recreation park) and part of a forest – the Fenevytsi and Makariv forest areas outside Bucha in the Kyiv region. These three different objects were put up for funding on the UNITED24 platform. April 4 is celebrated as Mine Safety Day, and we timed the launch of this crowdfunding campaign to coincide with that date. Just on the first day, a private donor donated a million dollars for demining projects. Because UNITED24 is a well-known platform both in Ukraine and across the world, potential donors understand where the raised funds go to.
The next step: the Ministry of Economy, UNITED24 and we aim to demonstrate on the example of these three plots that donor funds can also be implemented through transparent and competitive bidding. We believe that such an approach will open up new opportunities, because previously, the resources raised through the UNITED24 fundraising platform were only used to procure machinery and equipment for law enforcement agencies and public operators.
At the same time, operators have got increasingly better equipped with new machinery and new equipment. While we had a few units of demining machines at the beginning of last year, now the equipment is available in sufficient quantities. Ukrainian manufacturers have launched domestic production of demining machines, and some of the foreign manufacturers, among them the world’s largest ones, are localizing production here in Ukraine.
Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant, for instance, has developed the remotely controlled demining system to be known as Germina URCM-3000.
The machine is capable of demining up to 5 hectares in one day and can withstand the detonation of an anti-tank mine.
Many Ukrainian entrepreneurs take drawings and begin manufacturing equipment under licenses. Mine detectors, drones… everything is developing very rapidly.
Since late February, mine action operators have had the opportunity to rent and lease demining machines.
In particular, equipment can be rented from the Croatian company DOK-ING, the Swiss-German company GCS. Moreover, there is an opportunity to lease the demining machine Zmiy from the Ukrainian company RoverTech.
Needless to say, the digitalization system is also developing rapidly – new software programs, the latest technological platforms. We are currently the center and initiator of the creation of a unified cross-platform mine action management system, which will include demining operations management, integration with the Prozorro platform, public and private access to databases on contaminated territories, monitoring, reporting, resource management and dashboards.
Photo
– Would you sum up your vision of the tasks facing the Center and other stakeholders in humanitarian demining this year? And what are the “global” goals, in a manner of speaking?
– Certainly, what matters the most for us is to get Ukrainian lands cleared of mines and unexploded remnants of war to the maximum extent possible. To this end, we are planning to ramp up the Center’s certification and quality control capacities. You see, despite all our achievements, Ukraine is an extremely bureaucratized country, and it is sometimes quite difficult to obtain some kind of permit, update the program, or procure documents. For example, 13 Cabinet ministries are currently involved in mine action projects. I think it would be worthwhile to re-structure the humanitarian demining management vertical. There are specific recommendations in this regard from international partners (in particular, those developed based on the outputs of research conducted by Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which have been presented to both the Government and the President of Ukraine). The recommendations contain tips on how to do it better. So, basically, the Center’s mandate will hopefully be expanded insofar as it concerns the implementation of national policies regarding humanitarian demining.
Our short-term tasks include (1) the continuation of the farmland demining cost compensation program; (2) the maximum possible and efficient use of the funding resource provided for it; (3) expanding the scope of the program to include forested areas and lands owned by amalgamated territorial communities; (4) the development and implementation of digital tools for mine action sector management and coordination, (5) investment support for domestic manufacturers, and (6) ensuring maximum possible funding for humanitarian demining projects.
Interviewed by Vladyslav Obukh, Kyiv
Photo: Hennady Minchenko
Source: Volodymyr Baida, Humanitarian Demining Center, Director
