«The Chernobyl accident led to more than 700,000 hectares being removed from agricultural use. This means that about 20% of our territory was classified as affected. For any country, that percentage is incredibly high. As a result, social and economic development and the agricultural industry have suffered significant losses. For 40 years, our primary focus has been on ensuring that people can live safely on these lands and that farming can be carried out there. Our goal has been to make the land suitable for cultivation and for producing food that is environmentally friendly and complies with all maximum permissible limits and standards,» Igor Cheshik noted. «To date, about 21,000 hectares of affected land have been reclaimed for farming. In general, this work is being carried out actively and continuously. It is a complex, multi-layered process that starts with agrochemical and radiological soil analysis. What follows is multi-stage work involving various ministries and agencies, and the final decision to bring any given plot of land back into agricultural use rests with the Council of Ministers,» he said.