German engagement in sustainable agriculture in Ukraine

08.12.2021
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On 02.12.2021, a "Partnership exchange for an efficient, resource-saving, sustainable and competitive agricultural and food sector in Ukraine" took place. The projects of the Bilateral Cooperation Programme (BKP) of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) presented their most important results in 2021 and their plans for 2022. Frank Müller, agricultural attaché at the German Embassy, moderated the online event with almost 100 representatives from agricultural policy, business, science and education as well as the media.

In their welcoming speeches,

  • Bruno Hoffstadt - Head of Division at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection,
  • Taras Katschka - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine,
  • Aleksey Pinchuk - Head of the Department for International Cooperation of the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, and
  • Gennadiy Chyzhykov - President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry,

acknowledged the specific and effective contributions of these projects to the rapid development of agricultural production. They praised the supportive performance of the projects with regard to the considerable growth rates in agricultural trade as well as the improvement of the practical effectiveness and internationalization of agricultural science and education in Ukraine; despite enormous challenges in the framework conditions.

Taras Katschka - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, welcoming the participants of the event.

On behalf of the Agricultural Policy Dialogue (APD), Maria Yaroshko pointed out, among other things, that the training seminars for local agricultural administrations were attended by almost 500 representatives from 182 territorial municipalities, who were particularly interested in the management of the newly transferred state-owned agricultural land.

Katja Dells named the further development of the agricultural land market and efficient land administration at the level of the territorial municipalities as an important challenge in the coming years. This is where the APD's expert dialogue on soil will start in the coming project phase.

Andriy Getya, deputy head of the project on agricultural education, reported on the good results in the transfer of competences of the students.

Stefan Dreesmann from the project "German-Ukrainian Cooperation on Organic Agriculture (COA)" referred to the considerable progress in the adoption and implementation of the Ukrainian law on organic agriculture, the successful further development of the online knowledge platform for organic agriculture and the numerous joint events with organizations of organic agriculture in Ukraine.

André Pilling reported on the successful work of the project "Agritrade Ukraine". With the aim of institutional strengthening, six trainers were trained and product-specific manuals for the marketing of agricultural export goods were prepared. Richard Moody emphasized the importance of the multi-stakeholder approach in policy advice on agricultural trade. Among other things, the project published a competition and demand analysis for Ukrainian agricultural export goods.

Matthias Dees presented the BMEL's new project to support forest policy and the implementation of the national forest inventory in Ukraine.

At the end of the event, the work of the current head of APD, Volker Sasse, who will leave the project on 31 December 2021, was acknowledged. Sasse replied: "It has been an extraordinary honor and great pleasure for me to work with you over the last ten years on the design of an efficient agricultural policy and on the sustainable development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine. Thank you very much for the competent and friendly cooperation. I will certainly remain closely connected with you and with Ukraine in the years to come".

For further information, please, kindly turn to Stefanie.maak [at] afci.de