Ukraine could consider forgoing the European Union's agrarian subsidies in exchange for an easing of the bloc's Green Deal requirements during accession talks starting next month, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters, Paralel.Az reports.

Ukraine, which has a huge agrarian complex capable of feeding hundreds of millions of people, was invited to join the EU last year and will start sectoral talks on its accession in March to harmonise its legislation with EU requirements.

Integrating Ukraine's vast agricultural sector, which before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 was the world's fourth-largest supplier of grain, into the European Union is likely to be highly sensitive, both politically and economically.

Kyiv could be eligible for 96.5 billion euros ($103.95 billion) in subsidies from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy over seven years, if current rules are applied to an expanded union.

However, the EU's Green Deal, which sets out agricultural regulations for the bloc's 27 members for decades, could make business more difficult for Ukrainian farmers than working without the subsidies provided by the bloc, the source said.

"It seems to me that the ideal negotiating strategy (is to achieve) fewer restrictions on trade, fewer restrictions on the environment (for Ukrainian farmers) and we are willing to trade this for subsidies," the official said.