Ukrainian farmers to receive grant assistance of 19 mln canadian dollars

The governments of Canada and Israel have provided a grant in the amount of more than 19 million Canadian dollars to support small and medium farms in the South of Ukraine. The respective Memorandum of understanding has been signed between Canada and Israel in the framework of a project to support the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable farms with the support of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

The ceremonial signing of the Memorandum took place at the Ministry and was attended by Oleksiy Pavlenko, the Minister, Vladyslava Rutytska, the Deputy Minister on European Integration, Roman Vashchuk, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada, and Eliav Belotserkovsky, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel.

“Ukrainian farmers will gain the opportunity to master the logistics system, modern marketing, market mechanisms, and new technologies. I am thankful for the support of Ukrainian agriculture. We hope for successful partnerships between our countries,” Oleksiy Pavlenko noted.

The governments of Canada and Israel have reached an agreement on cooperation in the field of assistance to farmers, small and medium entrepreneurs in the framework of the project “Ukrainian Project of Business Development of Horticulture”. The project is aimed at exchange of experience in growing, storage, marketing of finished products, as well as the application of new methods in the field of agrarian industry. The project covers small and medium entrepreneurs in four regions of Ukraine: Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions.

“The project focuses on areas where the experience of Israeli experts will be especially valuable. Regions will receive considerable impetus for the development of not only fruit and vegetable farming, but also the entire agricultural sector, which is the basis for the regional cluster with the relevant infrastructure and established logistics”, Vladyslava Rutytska, the Deputy Minister on European Integration, said.

Grant assistance will be used to provide equipment, training, and practical and methodological assistance in establishing more efficient agriculture for farmers and households (involving Israeli and Canadian specialists).

A special credit mechanism will be established in order to support small and medium farmers through facilitating their access to financing, so that farmers could invest in the development of their business. Local agricultural education institutions will receive assistance in developing new courses for the effective and sustainable management of small farms for the development of horticulture.

The contractor of the project is the Mennonite Economic Development Associates – MEDA (Canada), which has received funding from the government of Canada. Its partner in the implementation of the project is the Center for International Cooperation MASHAV of the Foreign Ministry of Israel. The project beneficiary is the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

In 2015, the project will cover 1 000 small and medium farms in the steppe part of Ukraine, in particular in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions. The project will last for 7 years and is expected to reach 30 000 households in total. A similar project in the past was also fruitful – each dollar of investment gained three dollars for an enterprise.

The project budget is 19,325,100 Canadian dollars; this amount is grant assistance. The Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko noted that grant assistance to farmers exceeds the budget of the Ministry. The Ukrainian side is only required to participate actively and work hard.