Summary:
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By the end of 2023, FAO wants to help 500,000 households, or 1,000,000 individuals in rural regions, stop receiving humanitarian aid and help them become self-sufficient to help revive the rural economy.
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With the assistance of Germany, we have also distributed generators so that food farmers and other players in the food chain have access to power.
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The FAO is also aiming to reduce the use of fossil fuels in agriculture and is looking at alternatives like solar energy and biofuels.
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Also, FAO is significantly collaborating with the World Food Programme (WFP) to identify and prioritise areas that require demining and rehabilitation to protect farmers’ safety and enable the start of efficient and safe agricultural production as soon as possible.
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Cooperation among farmers is moved by the unity of Ukrainian farmers who, despite being impacted by events beyond their control, are driven to resume their operations, return to their regular lives, and supply their communities with agricultural products.
The FAO’s head of office in Ukraine is Pierre Vauthier. He explained to UN News how the FAO team in the nation—about 100 staff members, essentially Ukrainian experts in fields connected to agriculture—was scattered across the country under frequently challenging working conditions.
When the war started, one of our challenges was that many coworkers had to leave their homes and relocate to safer locations. Notwithstanding this obstacle, we could attend to the needs of individuals impacted quickly.
Beginning in April, we started giving out seeds, primarily to those who had been compelled to from their houses and had sought safety in the villages, where they felt more secure and had a better chance of obtaining housing.
Extreme suffering was experienced by those in occupied areas or on the front lines.
Agricultural enterprises, especially the larger ones, were severely impacted on all fronts, but they proved incredibly robust and showed the ability to restructure and carry on with business.
On the other hand, small farmers, companies, and rural households were highly vulnerable; they provided food for the rest of the nation and needed humanitarian relief.
The FAO provided cash and seeds to more than 30,000 households, strengthening the local economy and increasing resilience.
By the end of 2023, FAO wants to help 500,000 households, or 1,000,000 individuals in rural regions, stop receiving humanitarian aid and help them become self-sufficient to help revive the rural economy.
At the delivery of farming equipment in Chernihivska in November 2022, FAO Country Office Head in Ukraine Pierre Vauthier.
Preventing the agricultural industry’s collapse
Ukrainian ports, which supplied more than 80% to 90% of the nation’s grain to continents in Asia and Africa, were shut down in 2022.
Along with the government and other partners, FAO was able to buy and deliver close to 6 million tonnes of grain storage capacity, preventing the complete collapse of agricultural production. This allowed farmers, many of whom had suffered infrastructural damages due to the war, to stockpile their output and prevent losses.
Ultimately, this stabilised the situation globally and rescued the 2022 harvest.
Priorities for 2023
It is critical to assist farming since the war-related decline in agricultural productivity between 30% and 40% will severely impact the national economy and food security.
FAO established a unique programme that provides seeds to help farmers in frontline regions sustain their productivity.
With the assistance of Germany, we have also distributed generators so that food farmers and other players in the food chain have access to power. For instance, we have provided many bakeries in Kyiv and Kherson with generators so they may continue baking bread.
The FAO is also aiming to reduce the use of fossil fuels in agriculture and is looking at alternatives like solar energy and biofuels.
Also, FAO is significantly collaborating with the World Food Programme (WFP) to identify and prioritise areas that require demining and rehabilitation to protect farmers’ safety and enable the start of efficient and safe agricultural production as soon as possible.
Minefields and explosive ordnance still lying in the fields harm an estimated one million hectares of land.
Cooperation among farmers
I am moved by the unity of Ukrainian farmers who, despite being impacted by events beyond their control, are driven to resume their operations, return to their regular lives, and supply their communities with agricultural products.
In this regard, their worries about harvests, livestock, production maintenance, and market sales are strikingly similar to those of other farmers I have encountered in Mali, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
Despite difficulties, work continues.
The prolonged conflict makes humanitarian efforts more difficult, especially in places with a lot of military action.
We must retreat to our bunkers almost daily for safety, yet we keep working.
Security is still a key concern for our workers, who frequently reside outside the cities where we are situated. But we continue to be cautious about taking unnecessary risks.
