Almost 20 percent of the entire area. Due to the full-scale invasion, Ukraine lost more than 5 thousand hectares of arable land. The biggest problem faced by farmers is field mining – this is what the International Center for Ukrainian Victory and the Network for the Protection of National Interests “ANTS” say about it.
Mykolaiv Oblast is among the leaders. To resume planting, local engineers designed a demining tractor. He works remotely – in the fields under the de-occupied Snigurivka. Maryna Mykhaylovska will tell you more about the robot tractor.
This is one of the first tests of an unmanned tractor.
Since last spring, the farmers of the Sniguriv district have been working in a state of increased danger.
< strong>Yaroslav Ogievich – chief engineer of the “PAEK” group of companies:
At that time, all our enterprises in the Sniguriv district were mined. There were incidents of undermining last year, but you have to work and sow the land. You can see what weeds are growing.
Employees of this enterprise have already cleared about 10 thousand hectares themselves. However, even such fields sometimes bring surprises again.
Yaroslav Ogievich – chief engineer of the “PAEK” group of companies:
A heavy tractor with a disk harrow passed once, then a second trail – the disk harrow went deeper, and an anti-tank mine was found. There are great hidden differences. There is deep, there is sickness. We have already discovered those that are not so deep, and those that are deeper are probably still there.
From now on, the enterprise should be helped by their own development – a tractor-miner to save the team.
They control the tractor using a remote control from a distance of three hundred meters. A car moves at a speed of 1 kilometer per hour.
Ihor Bratchenko, leading engineer:
In front of us is a milling machine on chains. The hydraulic cutter turns, the chains hit the ground with a load of 300 kg. The area is cut up to 5-7 cm, it depends on the speed of the tractor. With its help, we demine the fields.
The remote control and electronics were bought via the Internet. For the experiment, they took an old MTZ-80 – they say it's not so bad. The engineers produced the tractor-miner in one and a half months.
Yaroslav Ogievich – chief engineer of the PAEK group of companies:
10 kilometers have already been completed.  ;People came in, we are working, repairing, preparing for irrigation..
The engineers are satisfied with their invention. They say the solution is economical and effective. And experts are not going to stop. They are planning to make an even more perfect mine removal tractor.