Poultry farm of Ukraine's biggest corporate welfare recipient gets US$29 mln in 2018

Vinnytsia Poultry Farm LLC, which is part of Ukraine's major chicken meat producer and biggest corporate welfare recipient PJSC Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), has received UAH 812 million (US$29 million) in state subsidies in 2018.

The money was allocated under a partial reimbursement program for the construction and reconstruction of livestock farms and complexes.

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Vinnytsia Poultry Farm received its largest amount of subsidies estimated at UAH 618 million ($22 million) as of November 1. The funds were transferred to MHP's accounts in five tranches, according to the State Treasury Service's E-data information portal.

Prior to that, Vinnytsia Poultry Farm received another UAH 187 million ($6.7 million) in subsidies in August 2018.

As UNIAN reported earlier, MHP has been in the lead in terms of subsidy payment from the national budget in the past few years.

In early November, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution to increase subsidies to the major agro holdings in 2018 by another UAH 500 million ($17.8 million) to UAH 1.7 billion ($60.7 million).

In total, the national budget provides for UAH 6.3 billion ($224.8 million) in support programs for the agricultural sector in 2018. However, farmers got just a tiny portion, accounting for 2% of the said sum.

Ukrainian parliamentarians and experts have repeatedly criticized the government of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman for allocating subsidies to big agro holdings. The prime minister promised many times to change the subsidies distribution system and provide more assistance to private farmers and medium-sized farms. However, nothing has changed since then.

Yuriy Kosyuk's MHP posted $230 million in net profit in 2017, which was 3.3 times up from 2016.

Kosyuk was Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine from July 2014 to December 2014.