July 10 2003, 10:16 UNIAN

Deputy stated that government exaggerated 2002 grain crop up to 11 mln t

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "wrote up" 9 to 11 million tonnes of grain to the 2002 crop, member of the oppositional parliamentary faction "Our Ukraine" and the parliamentary farming committee Mykhaylo Polyanych has stated today at a press-conference.

According to him, the government knowingly announced larger crop than it really was, in order to knock down the prices in domestic market and to raise incomes of grain exporters.

"Last year Ukraine exported 16 million tonnes of grain. 10 million tonnes passed through elevators, as for the rest - no one knows where it gone", Polyanych said. He added that in 2002 eight regions had announced about record grain collection, but today they are speaking about necessity of grain imports.

He said that the recent food problems in the country are the consequence of policy of the Cabinet of Ministers last year. He said that at the time of premiership of Victor Yushchenko the number of loss-making farm and processing enterprises decreased from 90 to 65 percent, while now 95 percent of agricultural companies have gone bankrupt.

The former Prime Minister Victor Yushchenko now heads the oppositional parliamentary faction "Our Ukraine".