International support for agricultural producers and communities

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As a result of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, a number of communities and agricultural producers in Ukraine are suffering from war. In response, the USAID Agrarian and Rural Development Program-AGRO, together with the GS All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council and the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, are implementing projects to support communities and agrarian producers in order to ensure food security.

"Today our international partners have shown great support and solidarity, together with associations they implement projects that help support agricultural producers and communities during the war. These projects help not only to support food security in the regions affected by the fighting, but also to establish partnerships between communities and agricultural producers and restore economic activity", said the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky.

Ukrainian Agrarian Council works with agricultural producers who need additional support for the timely provision of spring field work and effective continuation of agricultural production.

"Already today, through joint efforts, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council has delivered more than 350 tons of necessary goods to communities in thirteen regions, in particular Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Donetsk, Lugansk, Mykolaiv and Kherson. More than 300 kg of vegetable seeds and 35 tons of seed potatoes were handed over to homesteaders and households. Starlink complexes were transferred to the de-occupied territories, which made it possible to maintain communication and establish production processes at 23 agrarian enterprises", says Andrey Dуkun, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council.

The Ukrainian Agrarian Council also created operative juridical-consulting staff where agrarian enterprises can receive necessary consultations on organization of economic process. 53 agrarian enterprises received loans for the sowing season thanks to the project's legal and consulting assistance.

The Ukrainian Association of Communities implements the "United Communities" project aimed at maintaining the vitality of communities and promoting economic activity in the communities during the war. Through this initiative, communities unite through twinning and mutual assistance for the sake of victory in the war and the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

Project activities focus on organizing and administering logistics services to deliver needed goods to ensure food security. The Ukrainian Association of Communities establishes cooperation with partner communities within and outside of Ukraine, with volunteers, public organizations and charitable foundations.

"Since the beginning of the project, communities on the home front have donated more than 500 tons of food and basic necessities to communities caught up in active combat. This is mostly food, medicines, hygiene products, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, generators and other vital goods. About fifty communities received help, which provided food and necessities for about ten thousand people for half a month. We are talking not only about residents of communities affected by Russian aggression, but also about internally displaced persons," said Ivan Slobodyanik, WAG executive director.

For example, the Goshchansk community in Rivne region passed 25.5 tons of food and hygiene products (potatoes, flour, oil, pasta, canned meat, sausages, condensed milk, juices, cookies) to 6 communities: Novovodolazhskaya, Roganskaya, Boguduhovskaya and Malinovskaya territorial communities of Kharkiv region and Omelnytskaya community of Poltava region.

Also within the framework of the United Communities initiative, various consultations on activation of economic processes of communities in the new conditions, resumption of entrepreneurial activity and exchange of experience in solving the problematic issues that communities face every day are held.

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The USAID Agricultural and Rural Development (AGRO) Program is a five-year U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program implemented by Kimonix International. The goal of the program is to accelerate economic development in Ukraine's most underserved rural communities by improving governance in the agricultural sector, which will promote the development of more productive, modern and profitable micro, small and medium agricultural enterprises (MSMEs). USAID AGRO Program goals: to improve productivity and market access in targeted value chains, and improve support functions and regulatory frameworks in the agricultural sector. The USAID AGRO Program has taken the challenges of war and adapted its activities to help reanimate supply chains, restore economic activity of agricultural producers, build a strong and resilient market system, and ensure food security in Ukraine and the world.


PigUA.info according to minagro.gov.ua