On April 10, the Odesa Oblast Phytosanitary Laboratory opened a second remote branch on the Danube with three employees. USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) equipped the new laboratory with necessary equipment including, microscopes, laboratory scales, a bactericidal irradiator, a water treatment system, a set of weights, a laboratory hood, refrigerator, and consumables for conducting daily phytosanitary examinations such as Petri dishes, scissors, test tubes, gowns, and tips.
This new laboratory will expedite the phytosanitary examination process of grain, ensure uninterrupted work of agricultural enterprises, and improve logistics for exporting Ukrainian grain on the Danube.
“After Russia’s withdrawal from the “grain agreement”, security issues constrained grain shipment from the ports of Odesa. Companies pivoted and grain was shipped from the Southern ports (Izmail and Reni) instead, so opening an additional remote workplace was necessary. Every day, our main laboratory receives 20-150 samples for phytosanitary examination. The facility is only meant to handle 20 daily examinations, mainly samples of grain for export (corn, wheat, sunflower, rapeseed, soybean). Opening an additional remote location will help us speed up the analysis, because sample deliveries from the Danube to Odesa take a long time, delaying the ships in the port”, says the Acting Director of Odesa Oblast Phytosanitary Laboratory Kateryna Abuselidze.
USAID ERA is one of the key partners of USAID, which implements the Agricultural Sustainability Initiative of Ukraine (“AGRI-Ukraine”), budgeted at $350 million. This initiative was launched in 2022 with the aim of strengthening Ukrainian agricultural exports and mitigating the global food security crisis exacerbated by the war. As part of the “AGRI-Ukraine” initiative, USAID ERA cooperates with state and private enterprises to supplement and attract investments in transportation and transshipment of grain, which Ukraine desperately needs.
More about the initiative at the link.