In his address to parliamentarians, Victor Yushchenko outlined major priorities of this year’s program to develop Ukrainian villages, president's press office reported.
He said the country faced great challenges ahead: registering all lands and immovable property; making trade exchanges closer to farmers; improving quality of life in the rural area; encouraging young people to work in villages; raising salaries to farmers.
The President said pricing mechanisms in agriculture were very important: “We will be able to overcome the dictatorship of middlemen by making trade exchanges closer to farmers, which should help them receive good price for their products.”
To improve quality of life, we must consolidate both state and local resources, he opined, and that can yield results this year. The government also plans to introduce some social subsidies to encourage young people come to villages. He said they would conclude social contracts with university graduates crediting housing programs for these young professionals and giving them a five-thousand-hryvnya bonus.
Yushchenko also believes we should increase the share of farmers’ salary in production costs from 15% to 33% in 2010, which should make their income adequate to average salaries throughout Ukraine.
“Society should focus on the agrarian sector, for our land is not only a means of production for Ukrainians but also their cultural and spiritual heritage,” he opined.
