OREANDA-NEWS. On September 24, 2008 Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko insisted on strengthening control over purposeful use of agricultural lands. She stated at a meeting on rational use of agricultural lands.

Yulia Tymoshenko stressed that today in Ukraine the chief priority of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is not observed – preserving the quality of agricultural lands. “At all levels of the government authorities there is no database of the efficient state of agricultural lands, there is no a system approach to this issue that is absolutely, to my mind, intolerable,” the PM stated.

The Head of Government also emphasized that today in Ukraine “degradation of agricultural lands is progressing”. Particularly, because of violating the rules of their use, reducing of humus content and nutrients is fixed, areas of acidic and saline soils increase, areas of polluted and underflooded grounds rise and sowing of crops which overcrop the land – rape, sunflower seeds, maize develop as well: “benefiting by tenancy, this land is tired so much that becomes practically inefficient for further use”.

Yulia Tymoshenko considers it intolerable for the state which possesses 41,7 million ha of agricultural lands, among which 25 million ha – chernozem soils and insists on auditing the system of agricultural lands use and also suggests establishing extra responsibility for irrational use of lands.