A farmer from a village in the Mykolaiv region about the restoration of the economy after de-occupation: «The South feeds the whole country, but we don't have the equipment to work»

A farmer from the village of Blahodatne in the Mykolaiv region said that as a result of the hostilities, he lost almost all the expensive equipment that was used to work in the fields.

This is stated in the report of NikVesti «Self-demining: why farmers of Mykolaiv region and Kherson region have to survey their lands by themselves.»

The farmer himself demined the territories of his farms on his own with his sons. Currently, they are trying to restore the «John» harvester in order to be in time for the harvest, because almost all the equipment was burned during active hostilities.

«There is no tractor, look, all the tractors have burned down. The crane burned down, the excavator burned down, the MAS that we used to transport the grain burned down, the trailer burned down. I have two combines, «John» and «Don». But «Don» burned down altogether, it cannot be restored, it burned to the ground. And «John» is being restored, we spent a year working only on it, bought it for 75 thousand dollars. We think that maybe we will be able to clean up,» said Mykhailo Zviryshyn.

Farm equipment burned due to hostilities and shelling in the Mykolaiv region, photo: NikVesti

Another problem faced by farmers is the payment of taxes for land. During the two years of the war, the farmers did not manage to get the document. who would confirm that his plot is mined, therefore he is obliged to pay the minimum tax.

«Why pay land tax when there is nothing to work for? Well, there is a program (agricultural support, — note). I went to Kyiv and saw how many harvesters are in parking lots. Give the farmers machinery, the south feeds the whole country, give these farmers to the poor combine harvesters, then we will pay tax for the land,» said the agrarian.

Currently, farmers continue to demine the fields in Blahodatne by their own efforts, says the village headman.

«During this time, one person was injured on a tractor, lost his sight, one eye is missing. Well, we understand that there is a war, there are not enough people to carry out this work. And people decided to go themselves. Because you have to fight for life. Bladoatne has not yet been fully demined, it is very dangerous there,» the woman said.

Important reminder about demining:

The State Emergency Service reminds that the projectile, its remains and large debris cannot be overturned, transported or approached.

Police officers (102) and the fire and rescue service (101) must be notified of a found projectile or its fragment. Then pyrotechnics experts will go to the place and destroy the fragment. Rescuers of the State Emergency Service repeatedly call on farmers not to engage in self-mining and emphasize that it is safe to work only in those territories that have been inspected by sappers.

At the beginning of April, in the village of Liubomyrivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, a tractor exploded due to ammunition. With the approach of the sowing campaign, farmers of Kherson region and Mykolaiv region are increasingly taking risks and inspecting their land independently, which often ends tragically.

In order to find out what explosive objects Ukrainians risk encountering as a result of a full-scale war, and how to behave in such a situation, NikVesti explained in the material «What are mines and what to do if you find a suspicious object?».

Mine danger in the Mykolayiv region

We will remind you that since the beginning of 2024, 17 people have been blown up by mines in the Mykolaiv region, 4 of them died. Last year, 2023, 17 people, including one child, died in the Mykolaiv Oblast due to the detonation of ammunition. According to the calculations of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), there were a total of 57 cases of detonation of the civilian population by landmines last year.

The largest number of accidents due to detonations of explosive objects in the Mykolaiv region occurred precisely in the territory of the Snihurivka community.

Previously, NikVesti visited the village of Yevhenivka, where they talked with brothers Igor and Oleksandr Virovkin, who were blown up by landmines during the occupation of the village by the Russian military.

Also, on November 24, 2022, a mine detonation case was recorded in the de-occupied Snihurivka community. As a result, there is a dead and injured among the employees of the State Emergency Service. Later, on December 15, 2022, in one of the villages of the community, a man found two anti-personnel mines left behind by the Russian military. The shells were detonated. A 26-year-old man died on the spot.

On April 22, 2022, in the town of Snihurivka, near the former mineral water plant, an anti-personnel mine blew up two residents of the community. Later, on September 20, 2023, a car carrying two men was blown up by a mine. One of them died on the spot, the second man was hospitalized.

On October 11, 2023, a mine exploded in a field near the town of Snihurivka. The driver was injured as a result of the explosion and is in the hospital. Also, on February 1, 2024 , four people were detonated by a mine near the village of Yevhenivka in the Mykolaiv region.

On March 5, 2024, a 38-year-old man blew himself up in the village of Bezimenne of the Snihurivka community of the Bashtanka district. In addition, in the Snihurivka region, the pyrotechnic group of the State Emergency Service demined the area where a cow was detonated on an explosive device.