Farmlands in four regions of Ukraine are the most polluted

Farmlands in Zaporozhye, Lugansk, Donetsk and Kharkov regions are the most polluted ones, Infoindustria writes.

"According to the monitoring data, the content of heavy metals in agricultural land in most regions of Ukraine does not exceed the maximum admissible concentrations. However, in Zaporozhye, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov and other regions with a high level of industrial development, the concentration of lead, cadmium, nickel, manganese and other elements in soil is 2-5 times higher than threshold limit value (TLV)," said the Professor of the Institute of Food Resources of the National Academy of Sciences Lubomir Khomichak.

He believes that all this confirms the fact of food contamination and, as a consequence, the increase in the incidence of the population now and in the future.

"In 2017, soil and water pollution caused more than 6 million diseases and about 1.8 million deaths in the world," Lubomir Khomichak noted.

Western Ukraine is more favourable for agricultural production from an ecological point of view, but there is a shortage of workforce in this region.

Previously experts pointed out that in monetary terms the most productive farmlands are in Ivano-Frankivsk region. On average, 100 hectares of land in this region earn UAH 1.2 million. Fields of Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Cherkassy, Lviv and Kiev regions have close indicators.