As of March 13, 306 thousand hectares of land are sown by grains and legumes, mainly in Southern and Eastern Ukraine, which is 11% of the anticipated cultivated areas.  Losses of most agricultural crops last year, and the lack of any funding caused by the difficult economic and political situation in Ukraine may lead to significant losses of grains and oilseeds harvest in 2014. Thus, by estimation of the President of Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club” (UCAB) Alex Lissitsa, farmers will not be able to sow 20% of agricultural lands, that will lead to a loss of 11.1 million tons of the harvest or 25.1 billion revenue at current prices.

Atypical weather conditions add complication to the situation, namely, by the complete lack of snow cover in most regions, and with it the lack of moisture in the upper layer of soil. Farmers also face the necessity to organize the spring fieldwork within extremely short time, which is an extremely difficult task because of the logistical situation at most farms.

President of Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club” (UCAB) Alex Lissitsa appeals to the Government with demand to suspend immediately the populist debate about tax novelty for agricultural industry in Ukraine and to impose moratorium on any changes in the tax system and tax audits for agricultural enterprises at least until the end of the year. In his opinion, it is necessary to hold urgent meetings with financial institutions regarding unlocking financing the industry in order to support small and medium-sized agricultural producers. Otherwise, he said, the agricultural sector will not be able to complete 2014 without significant losses.

Largest agricultural associations "Union of poultry farmers of Ukraine”, “Union of feed producers of Ukraine", "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club", "Agrarian Union of Ukraine", "Ukrainian Agrarian Association” have also delivered their concrete proposals to the Minister of agrarian policy and food of Ukraine Igor Shvaika and Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov on deregulation of the sector, namely: abolition of mandatory certification of grain, technical control of agricultural machinery, import permits for crop protection products, double check for registration land leasing agreements, mandatory rotation projects and a number of documents at the registration of rights to lease agricultural land.

"We appeal to the Government and Parliament of Ukraine with the request as soon as possible to resolve these issues, and call the parliamentarians in this difficult time for the country to do everything for urgent solution of the problems in agricultural sector. Because ignoring of these problems can cause another crisis in the country – food crisis" - underlined Alex Lissitsa.