KIEV, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government will enhance financial support for small livestock farms to boost domestic meat and milk production, the country's Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday in a statement.
"The potential of this sector is untapped as about 90 percent of the farms are now focused on crop production and only 1.8 percent are engaged in cattle-breeding," Deputy Agriculture Minister Olena Kovalyova stated.
The government will provide financial subsidies for purchasing young productive cattle, building new livestock farming facilities and establishing units for processing livestock products, which covers 30 percent of the farmers' spending on their household expansion, she added.
About half of Ukraine's total agricultural output relies on small farming. As part of the government program, the planned financial support envisages an allocation of 116 million U.S. dollars within the next three years to support small-scale cattle-breeding and horticulture farms.
Ukraine is striving to expand its livestock goods production due to the expansion of its exports markets, with 61 new Ukrainian milk and meat producers given access to foreign countries this year, bringing the total number of Ukrainian livestock goods exporters to 728.
