Croatia donates €1M to demine agricultural land in Ukraine

The Government of Croatia donated €1 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help Ukraine demine agricultural land.

This is stated on the WFP’s website.

“We highly value the support of partners who provide donor and international technical assistance for demining projects in Ukraine, particularly Croatia, which possesses significant demining expertise,” said First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The agreement on assistance was signed by Gordan Grlić Radman, Foreign Minister of Croatia, and Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Country Director in Ukraine, in the presence of Svyrydenko.

As noted, the €1 million contribution is Croatia’s largest ever donation to the UN World Food Programme.

The funds will support a collaborative project led jointly by the UN World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in conjunction with WFP’s partner for mine action, the Fondation suisse de déminage (FSD).

The project aims to survey productive agricultural land for the presence of mines and other explosives, demine it where necessary, and release it safely to restore food production and support the livelihoods of rural communities. The project will also extend support to farmers in rehabilitating soils and re-establishing their agricultural production once the lands are deemed safe.

The work is already underway in Kharkiv region with plans to expand to Mykolayiv and Kherson regions.