65% of all Ukrainian rice is grown in the Kherson region.

But this year, farmers are ready to abandon this crop altogether if overstated water prices are not reviewed. Farmers said their crops are at risk due to the extremely high cost of irrigation water.

In the State Water Agency, the tariff was increased to 30%, which hit farmers in the Kherson region. Without Kherson rice, Ukrainians will have to buy a foreign product, which is much more expensive, agrarians warn.

The heads of large farms in the region gave local officials one week to review the price of water. They wrote an appeal to the authorities and regulatory authorities with a request to urgently intervene in the formation of the tariff and check the use of budgetary funds by the water resources department.

Chairman of the Commission on Land Relations of the Kherson Regional Council, Sergei Rybalko, believes the current price of water does not correspond to reality, even taking into account inflation.

Officials explain the rise in water prices on the eve of the sowing campaign by the desire to raise wages for water workers. But farmers are not happy with such explanations. They express their readiness even to maintain water management at their own expense, as well as to repair those facilities that bring Dnieper water to their fields.