The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bayer recently announced their donation of vegetable seeds to Ukrainian farmers, an act to help address the crisis generated from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The donation will be made by Bayer as a partner of USAID’s Agriculture Resilience Initiative for Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) — an initiative that engages the private sector to support the needs of Ukraine’s export and agricultural sector, shared a release.
Bayer will provide a new donation of carrot seeds for Ukrainian farmers that will be distributed by USAID to farmers who need it the most. The first shipment is predicted to supply close to 25,000 households and micro-farmers. Priority will be given to farmers located in newly liberated areas. USAID and Bayer plan to continue identifying any additional seed needs throughout the planting cycle, exhibiting the difference that can be made when the private sector and U.S. government work together.
This development builds on USAID AGRI-Ukraine and Bayer’s partnership that was established in October 2022 to offer support to Ukrainian farmers, while addressing the global food security crisis. AGRI-Ukraine was launched to bolster Ukraine’s agricultural production and exports following Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine.
Bayer’s investment adds to the company’s long-time support of Ukraine’s agriculture sector that has spanned over 25 years. Bayer plans to invest an additional $35 million under AGRI-Ukraine to boost its seed processing facility capacity in Ukraine. The company has already donated more than 40,000 bags of corn seed, allowing over 1,750 smaller farmers the ability to grow food. Bayer has also donated funds dedicated to a mechanical mine clearing machine.
AGRI-Ukraine was launched in July 2022 and has since targeted Ukraine’s most pressing agricultural export challenges. The initiative goes a step further, offering support to the greater needs of the Ukrainian agriculture sector as it will continue to bolster the country’s production of agricultural commodities throughout 2023. AGRI-Ukraine hopes to expand access to essential agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, equipment and pesticides for Ukrainian farmers and “enhance Ukrainian infrastructure capacity and capability to efficiently export agricultural goods, increase farmers’ access to financing, and expand the capacity of Ukrainian businesses to dry and temporarily store, and process agricultural commodities,” explained the release.
To learn more about AGRI-Ukraine, visit https://www.usaid.gov/ukraine/agriculture-resilience-initiative-agri-ukraine.
