Ministry of Economy of Ukraine is interested in creating a final product with high added value.
Therefore, most questions from the berry, orchard, and vegetable industries to the Ministry of Economy are related to including equipment for freezing agricultural products in the list of equipment that can be purchased with grant funds. However, this equipment has not been included in this list, and there are no plans to do so.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine emphasizes that the processing of products and the creation of value-added products are one of the priority directions for the development of the Ukrainian industry. In particular, within the “eWork” project, the state provides grant funds for the establishment and development of processing enterprises. However, Ukrainian producers have a contentious question: can freezing of products be considered processing, and can grant funds be obtained for the purchase of freezing equipment under this program? The answer to this question was provided by the representative of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Roman Kropyvnytskyi, during a panel discussion on “Berry Farming in Times of War: Sales in the Domestic and Export Markets.” The event, moderated by the head of the public association “UKRSADVINPROM” Volodymyr Pechko, took place during the VII International Scientific and Practical Conference “Berry Farming and Processing in Times of War: Learning to Win,” organized by the media group “Technologies and Innovations.”
In addition, the discussion involved Vadim Bortnik, director of the company “Sadi Polissya,” Igor Nitskevich, director of the company “Nikdaria,” Andriy Kuzmych, chairman of the Rivne Regional Association of Farmers and Private Landowners, and Sergey Olshansky, founder of the Famberry enterprise. Representatives of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine Roman Kropyvnytskyi and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Andriy Kravchenko also participated in the online discussion. One of the questions that the speakers paid special attention to was the mechanisms of grant support, financing, and other ways of supporting the agricultural sector.
According to Roman Kropyvnytskyi, the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 739 of June 24, 2022, on “Certain Issues of Granting Grants to Processing Enterprises,” has sparked quite a bit of discussion. Within the grant program, the state provides up to 8 million hryvnias with co-financing for the development of processing enterprises.
Roman Kropyvnytskyi emphasized that the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine is interested in creating a final product with high added value. Therefore, most questions from the berry, orchard, and vegetable industries to the Ministry of Economy are related to including equipment for freezing agricultural products in the list of equipment that can be purchased with grant funds. However, this equipment has not been included in this list, and there are no plans to do so.
He stated that the Ukrainian government insists that enterprises create additional processing cycles by producing jams, preserves, pastilles, or other products:
- If you have berries that enter the enterprise in a chilled state and end up frozen as a result, we do not consider this a complete processing cycle.
For enterprises engaged in processing, the list of equipment for cooling and freezing has been expanded. If, within the production cycle, it is necessary to cool the raw materials before processing, as required by the technological process, then refrigeration and freezing equipment can be purchased with grant funds.
He added that starting from January 1, 2024, a new grant year will begin. It is crucial that there are funds allocated in the budget by the Ministry of Economy for this grant program. In addition, the State Employment Center has been added to the program, which will also finance it. In general, it is projected that approximately 1,000 grants will be issued in 2024.
Source: Jagodnik