Irrigation as a tool in the fight for borscht made from Ukrainian ingredients

The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam on June 6, 2023, had many terrible environmental consequences. One of them had a direct impact on agriculture: Ukraine's vegetable breadbasket, as Kakhovka was often called, lost 584,000 hectares of irrigated land. This figure was cited by Alla Stoyanova, a representative of the water users' organization Water of Life, at the Agro Finance 2025 conference recently held by Oschadbank in Kyiv. The title of this panel was “Problems. Drought. Climate change. Solutions. Actions.”

The area of irrigated land in Ukraine continues to decline steadily. According to Ms. Stoyanova, while 2.29 million hectares were irrigated in Ukraine in 1990, there were 600,000 hectares before the full-scale invasion, and today only 100,000 hectares remain. According to experts' forecasts, by 2050, three-quarters of Ukraine's land may face a shortage of moisture —the area of irrigated land should be increased, but it is decreasing dramatically.

The primary reason for this decline is the consequences of the full-scale aggression. In addition to blowing up the Kakhovka HPP dam, which I mentioned earlier, the enemy destroyed 350 pumping stations and over 1,100 km of irrigation canals.

The second negative factor affects not only Ukraine but the whole world; it is global warming. The moderator of the above-mentioned panel, Alina Sokolenko, chair of the Association of Sustainable Development Experts, cited numerous statistics showing that the situation with the reclamation of Ukrainian agricultural land requires immediate improvement. According to the World Bank, the average annual temperature in Ukraine has risen by more than 1.2 degrees Celsius over the past 30 years. This might not seem important, but for farming, it means that huge areas of fields and orchards are now considered risky. In the southern regions of Ukraine, the amount of water resources per capita is three times lower than the European average. According to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukrainian agriculture has lost more than $2 billion in revenue over the past 20 years due to droughts.

Irrigation is one of the key conditions for sustainable development of the agricultural sector. In the context of climate change and frequent droughts, modern land reclamation systems help ensure stable harvests and the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural exports. Its development directly affects the country's food security and the preservation of the potential of Ukrainian black soil for future generations.

Another panel participant, Yuriy Pudlyk, head of Oschadbank's client Agro Invest, provided compelling facts in favor of land reclamation. He said that on a conventional field, carrots from a traditional soup set yield 40-50 tons per hectare, while on an irrigated field, this figure is 100 tons plus. Yes, land reclamation requires investment, but it pays off. After the start of full-scale war, the logistics of grain exports have become complicated, and Mr. Pudlyk advises paying attention to vegetable growing, because 1 hectare of land used to grow soup vegetables is equivalent in effect to 10-15 hectares used to grow grain. In addition, vegetable growing can provide jobs for a much larger workforce, which reduces social tension in rural areas. "When I see a reservoir, I don't think about fishing, swimming, and barbecues like everyone else. I think about how many hectares can be irrigated with it," says Yuriy Pudlyk.

It is no secret that part of the borscht set is now exported from abroad, even despite additional transportation costs. According to Mr. Pudlyk, irrigating Ukrainian land for growing vegetables will allow this money to remain in Ukraine. Therefore, land reclamation will preserve Ukrainian borscht made from Ukrainian ingredients. I don't think anyone doubts that such borscht tastes better.

Why is Oschadbank involved in this, and why did we choose to focus our entire panel at our own conference on land reclamation issues? Firstly, because, as Natalia Butkova-Vitvitska, a member of the management board for MSME issues, said at Agro Finance, surveys indicate that 87% of Oschadbank's agricultural clients need irrigation systems. This means that we had to develop a financial product for these needs—and it has already been developed.

Yulia Zhulanova, Director of the Credit and MSME Support Department at Oschadbank, spoke about our offers to farmers planning irrigation. We provide loans for the installation of modern irrigation systems and the construction of new and modernization of existing facilities for water supply, purification, accumulation, and storage. All this is done using the latest energy- and water-saving technologies, which help farmers increase the efficiency of their farms and conserve resources. This can be financing for the purchase of equipment (in which case the own contribution is 20%) or a loan for turnkey land reclamation: project, equipment, installation work (with a down payment of 30% and a loan term of up to 10 years). Project financing requires a business plan, which Oschadbank can help prepare. The issue of collateral, which is always difficult in the implementation of such projects (since a well cannot be used as collateral), is resolved through risk-sharing mechanisms, either state or international.

In addition, directly at the Agro Finance 2025 conference, Oschadbank and leading companies in the field of land reclamation—VARIANT AGRO BUD (Ukrainian manufacturer of modern irrigation systems for agricultural enterprises), AGROPOLYV (distributor of American Valley equipment for irrigation systems and self-watering), and NETAFIM Ukraine (distributor of Israeli equipment Netafim for drip irrigation)—signed agreements on cooperation and development of partnership initiatives aimed at implementing financing programs for the purchase of irrigation systems and modern reclamation technologies to increase land fertility.

Thanks to these profitable credit programs from Oschadbank, Ukrainian agribusinesses will be able to purchase modern equipment for land reclamation and irrigation on unique terms: interest rate—from 0.01%; credit term—up to 10 years; pledge—equipment or property rights to it. Among the advantages are also a simplified list of documents, the absence of notarization of the deposit, and the ability to apply online through the OschadBusiness platform.

In addition, within the framework of the state support program, farmers can receive compensation of 25% of the cost of domestic agricultural machinery. And as part of the Oschadbank and EBRD grant program for farmers, additional cashback is provided: 10% of the cost of equipment for MSMEs and up to 30% for veterans and entrepreneurs affected by the war.

More details you can find out in Oschadbank branches and by calling the “hotline” for business clients: 0 800 219 800.

Let's keep the authentic taste of Ukrainian borscht together!