On 17 July, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved a new government. Yulia Svyrydenko was elected Prime Minister, along with a new team of government officials. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the new government to start working "from today" and announced the next stage of reformatting in diplomacy and the security sector.
However, among all the appointments and structural changes, the least discussed but most critical for the future of the state was the repeated merger of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Economy. The new mega-departmental hybrid was headed by Oleksiy Sobolev.

And this is where we should stop. Because agricultural policy is not just a supplement to the economy. And not just a part of the general "fund". It is a separate, strategic, vital sector that has been virtually dissolved in the bureaucratic structure.

📊 REPEATING A MISTAKE THAT HAS ALREADY HURT

This is not the first experiment with the "merger" of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2020, a similar step was already taken - and it led to the actual degradation of agricultural management.
The absence of a dedicated ministry meant a lack of dialogue between the state and farmers, a loss of focus, underinvestment in development, and wrong regulatory decisions.

The market, which accounts for about 20% of GDP, was left without a voice.
Farmers are without support.
Exports - without a clear state policy.

A year after these "experiments", the Ministry of Agriculture had to be restored. But, as we can see, the lessons of the past have not been learnt again.

🥺NO AGRICULTURAL POLICY = NO FOOD SECURITY

The merger of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy into a new "mega-structure" is a direct threat to Ukraine's food security.
In the third year of the full-scale war, when:

• More than 30% of agricultural land is mined or occupied;
• grain exports are constantly blocked;
• farmers survive in extraordinary conditions;
• The country needs a clear vision of what, where and how to grow;
  - The government is choosing the path of dissolving the agricultural vector in the overall economic mass.

This is dangerous levity.

The agricultural sector is an instrument of state survival in times of war. The countryside is the home front, it is stability, it is work for millions, it is bread on the table for every family and it is a powerful support for the army.
Today, the state's agricultural portfolio is not just "grain", but also geopolitical power and food diplomacy.

🇺🇦ЧОМУ SHOULD THE MINAGRO BE SEPARATE AND INFLUENTIAL?
✔️Аграрна policy requires specific expertise. You cannot manage grain, water, trees and stock markets at the same time.
✔️Фермери need direct dialogue. Today, they feel abandoned, and the absence of a separate ministry only widens this gap.
✔️Потрібна rapid response to risks. War, climate threats, fertiliser prices, international markets - all of these require a separate anti-crisis headquarters, not just another department within another ministry.
✔️Довіра international partners. The world supports Ukrainian farmers through the FAO, the EU, etc. But how can dozens of programmes be coordinated without a clear line ministry?

🌾AGRICULTURAL STRATEGY IS NOT AN OPTION, BUT A FOUNDATION

The abolition of the actual subjectivity of agricultural policy is a rejection of the strategic vision. We have no right to take such a step when our land is groaning from bombs, and a farmer, instead of sowing a field, is drowning in a bureaucratic stream.
Ukraine is not just an agricultural country. We are a food guarantor for millions of people on the planet. But without a dedicated policy, there will be no bread, no exports, and no faith in the village. And if you don't hear the village, it will fall silent.
It is already silent every day.
And with it, the economy, exports and hope.

Alla Stoyanova emphasises: "The merger of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with the Ministry of Economy and Environment is a strategic mistake.
The agrarian sector is a separate economic ecosystem with its own challenges, logic, risks and strategic objectives. It cannot be integrated "along the way" - it requires a separate policy focus.
We have already seen the consequences of such experiments: the absence of an agrarian voice in the government, the failure of communication with farmers, and chaos in support programmes.
Today, in times of war, the destruction of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is a blow to the agricultural sector, a blow to the country, a blow to each of us."