All-Ukrainian strike of farmers has begun
Several thousand villagers gathered at the Verkhovna Rada for a rally organized by the Agrarian Party of Ukraine. Participants demand to maintain the moratorium on the sale of land and return to the taxation system that was in force before 2015.
The rally is taking place as part of the all-Ukrainian strike of farmers, whose representatives also gathered at the entrances to each regional center with agricultural equipment displayed along the roads.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine intends to begin selling agricultural land in 2017. Farmers fear that Ukrainian lands will be bought up by oligarchs and foreigners - impoverished villagers simply do not have the money for this.
At the same time, tax robbery will lead to an increase in prices for products, which could rise in price by 40%, Deputy Chairman of the Agrarian Party Denis Marchuk is sure.
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“One and a half million Ukrainians are on the verge of starvation,” party head Vitaliy Skotsyk said in his speech at the rally. – A kilogram of meat may rise in price to 150-160 UAH. A person with a pension of 1400 UAH will not be able to buy milk, cheese, or butter. Since the beginning of the year, the population of Ukraine has decreased by almost 120 thousand people. It's a whole city. And in 25 years of independence, we have lost 10 million people. Last year, the hryvnia depreciated by 320%, more than 250 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises closed, more than 4 million Ukrainians went abroad to work.”
The budget for next year will leave the village without money, said the head of the Veselopodolsk village council (Poltava region) Inna Kalendar. “In the draft budget for 2017, funding for schools and hospitals is transferred to local budgets. They don't tell us where to get the money for this. Already now, in order to give birth to a child, you have to travel 30 km. What will happen next? Sick and illiterate people? Will villages continue to die out? Previously, only local farmers invested in roads, schools, and clubs. Now the last thing has been taken away from us, but what’s left is the government wants to scrape through the budget. Return the money to the village, and the village will feed the country!” - she said.
An entrepreneur from the Khmelnitsky region, Sergei Ivashchuk, said that the new taxation system is killing rural cooperation. “People are made poor in order to then take away their last thing - land. We say that we will not be serfs! We say: “No price increases!” – and we will provide affordable prices if they do not interfere with us. Pass Law 3851-1 and return the taxation that was in force before January 1, 2015!” - he said.
“They took our money for seed and fertilizers. What to feed the livestock? We say stop the madness. Otherwise, tomorrow homemade milk, meat, and eggs will disappear from stores. Ukraine will receive another 2 million unemployed. People will be poor. Probably, such people are needed to take the land away from them. We demand to stop the tax robbery of the agrarians and Ukraine! Let the deputies return what worked. If you don’t know how to help, then at least don’t interfere,” said Inna Kukhachuk, chairman of the association of farmers and private landowners from the Vinnytsia region, from the stage.
“The previous government did not listen to the people and is now hiding abroad. We can repeat this lesson from the current government. We will not allow our country to be destroyed. Because we paid and are paying a very high price for it. Our guys are dying in the East at a time when the economy here is being destroyed. This needs to be stopped. There is no work in the village. On average, 30 people apply for one job. Young people generally run away from the country, because you can’t even earn a living here... When a manufacturer is strangled with taxes, there is no prospect in the country! We will always ask for money from the IMF and work on debts,” said Yakov Ostash, a representative of the Odessa region.
The all-Ukrainian agricultural strike has begun.