The Ukrainian government will be able to finalize the draft Strategy for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas until 2030 within six months and will subsequently use it as a roadmap for integration into the European Union, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Remy Duflo said.

During the presentation of the Strategy for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Territories until 2030 in Kyiv on Friday, he said this is a project, but it must be created so that it becomes one of the criteria for joining the European Union. It must be a competitive economy, a market economy, capable of withstanding competition from other economies of the European Union. This is the result of the Ukrainian government's plan for the year, for there are still six months of discussion, the official said.

Duflo praised the holistic approach of the Ukrainian government in creating a competitive agri-food sector, which at the same time is focused on ensuring food security and promoting the Green Deal, which is in line with EU policy.

The deputy head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine expressed hope that the strategy will help in building the value chain of agricultural products in the country and drew attention to the need to improve the situation of micro and small agricultural producers to increase the sustainability of the country's agricultural sector.

Duflo also assured that the EU will continue to help Ukraine in the coming years to bring its domestic legislation into line with European legislation. According to him, we are talking about more than 5,000 regulatory acts in the field of sanitary and phytosanitary policy, as well as general agricultural policy.

The deputy head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine said they will continue to strengthen institutional capacity to ensure evidence-based policy development and implementation; data collection and verification will be important. They will try to do more in relation to the State Agrarian Register, where more than 140,000 farmers have already registered; and work to create a payment agency and introduce control mechanisms that are used throughout the European Union for the effective implementation of the ATS, he said.

Duflo said that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has invested more than EUR 70 billion in supporting micro and small producers through a grant scheme, which will continue in 2024, primarily in the liberated and de-occupied territories.

In addition, the EU provided Ukraine with about EUR 6 billion in grants for farmers in western Ukraine, and EUR 12 billion in support of the Fund for Partial Guarantee of Loans in Agriculture. Another EUR 10 billion was provided as guarantees for loans to farms with an area of ​​less than 500 hectares.