Ukraine’s organic sector - Project activities despite the war

23.09.2022
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Our "𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 (𝘊𝘖𝘈)" project, which is financed by the German Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL), successfully engaged at Biofach2022 with its conference „𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘜𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦 5 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 - 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬“. This year the fair was officially opened by the German Minister of Food and Agriculture, Cem Özdemir. He emphasized that production and processing in organic agriculture are part of the solution for the different crises, which are currently gripping the world. One outstanding highlight for all visitors interested in the Ukrainian organic sector was the personal visit of the German minister to Ukrainian stands at the fair.

During the first few months of the war, an essential content of the discussions regarding the COA project was to exchange ideas with the organisations from the organic sector and on how they can be helped efficiently to be able to continue their work. For example, four renowned organisations and their member associations were very grateful for the opportunity to present themselves on a joint stand at the Biofach – the world's largest trade fair for organic agriculture and to make many new contacts.

In addition, the project has managed to initiate and support fundraising campaigns by the Future Foundation for Agriculture "Emergency Aid Organic Farming Ukraine" since the end of March 2022 ( https://zukunftsstiftung-landwirtschaft.de/ueber-uns/aktuelles/2022/ukraine/ ). With the collected money of 560.000 EUR the campaign was able help 170 organic farms in Ukraine. By involving the organisation "Organic Federation of Ukraine" in the disbursement of the subsidies of the "Future Foundation for Agriculture" to the organic farms in Ukraine, it was possible to employ their staff and thus stabilise their entire association. The same applies to all other organic federations in Ukraine as well as to the organic inspection body "Organic Standard", as the fundraising campaign of the "Future Foundation for Agriculture" has stabilised their member farms and enabled them to pay their membership fees or their sometimes high costs for the organic certification of their farms.   

COA continuously supports and contributes to stabilisation of organic farms and associations in Ukraine with the following measures (selection of measures):

  • Support of food donation campaign from the side of the German organic sector (German Food Bridge).
  • Support for the refugee aid of the organisation "Permaculture Ukraine" and "Ecovillages Ukraine" for refugees who have sought shelter in the villages and houses of these two organisations in Ukraine as a result of the war. The Permaculture organisation has publicly expressed its sincere thanks several times for the support of its own fundraising campaign (https://genukraine.com.ua/index.php/en/gen-ukraine/green-road-of-ecovillages).
  • Evaluation of further foundations that could support organic farms and organisations in Ukraine in the future
  • Development of articles, interviews, use of social media, preparation of press releases to inform broadly about the situation of organic agriculture in Ukraine in the aftermath of the war (selection:
  • Support the fellowship programme of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) for Ukrainian natural scientists / special programme due to the war
  • Different activities to support the export of Ukrainian organic sunflowers and organic soy to the EU.

If you would like to learn more about the project or if you have questions regarding this article, don't hesitate to contact our project manager Stefanie Maak (stefanie.maak [at] afci.de). 

 

Fotos Urheberrecht: NuernbergMesse / Frank Boxler