USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) has developed a roadmap for 41 farmers in Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Lviv, Vinnytsia and other oblasts who have signed agreements to supply vegetables (greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, carrots, young cabbage, sweet/bell peppers and onions) to Kalynivka-Premium Trading House. The document regulates the relationship between supplier and buyer in the following areas: product quality, accompanying documents, payment system, and logistics. This cooperation should help farmers to establish cooperation with Kalynivka Trading House to regulate the range of products supplied and timely payments.

“In this cooperation, Kalynivka-Premium takes over administration of the entire chain – from the field to the shelf.  Farmers, supermarkets, and the end consumer all benefit from this cooperation. We have agreed with farmers that they will grow and supply high quality products that will meet our, our customers’ and end consumers’ requirements. In practice, it looks like this: we understand how many vegetables the market needs in a certain period of time and keep a balance, forecast the range and volume of products, draw up preliminary prices and make prompt adjustments, place orders, pick up products from farmers, deliver them to the chain and make timely payments. Kalynivka also helps farmers participate in grant support projects to attract resources for farm development. This is important for them because it can partially solve their problems, especially during martial law and resource shortages,” says Tetiana Medzhytova, Deputy Director of Kalynivka Trading House.

Such cooperation will help small farmers to establish sales of their products, which means that the risk of not selling their crops is significantly reduced. From now on, farmers will not take their vegetables to the market or to small shops, but sell them to Kalynivka Trading House with a guarantee. The vegetables are then delivered to national supermarket chains such as ATB, Silpo, Fora, Auсhan, Metro, Novus, Varus, Tavria, Pchilka, Velmart, Megamarket, Ekomarket, Continent and others. This reduces farmers’ costs for logistics and sales administration, allowing them to focus more on growing quality products.

Farmers are already supplying vegetables such as onions, peppers, cabbage, and carrots under the cooperation program. One of them is Greenville LLC, a limited liability company that grows vegetables in the open field in Mykolaiv Oblast. Until this year, they grew only late vegetables (onions, carrots, beetroot), but as farmers in Kherson region are now unable to grow vegetables due to the occupation and constant shelling by Russia, the farm has increased the area growing vegetables and added early vegetables to its produce range.

“This year, in addition to onions, we have planted peppers, carrots and Chinese cabbage. This is also a new experience for us, but we are responding to the challenges of the times, and we are interested in trying new things in our business. Cooperation with Kalynivka Trading House is important because we will not divert our resources to logistics – the delivery of vegetables, negotiations with buyers; all this is taken care of by our partner. At this time, we will be able to focus on growing a quality product, which will benefit our end customer in the supermarket,” said Anastasia Kiver, CFO of Greenville LLC.

In the 2023 season, the farmers involved in this cooperation are expected to grow and sell 30,000–50,000 tons of vegetable products.

In the wake of the environmental disaster caused by Russia’s troops in Kherson Oblast by blowing up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station dam, demand for seasonal vegetables in Ukraine will increase, as the planted fields in Kherson region were flooded with water and farmers lost their crops.

USAID Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) has purchased 250 maxi bags for the needs of grain export logistics company N’Unit (New Ukrainian Network of Intermodal Terminals).

Maxi bags are large 18 m³ bags that can be used to transport grain in railway wagons. This is a new technology that USAID ERA is promoting among Ukrainian agricultural producers and logistics companies.

“We are now supplementing our company’s capacity by exporting grain overland. We propose that trucks with grain go to the terminal in Kharkiv and have the necessary additional equipment, such as generators and maxi bags. In these large bags, we can store grain and then load it into wagons and transport it to the European Union,” says Denis Holets, Commercial Director of N’Unit.

The use of maxi bags in the grain export chain will help the company export 100,000 tons of grain this year.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian farmers used to transport grain to Odesa by road and rail and then ship it abroad. This way suited everyone, so farmers did not think about alternative channels for exporting Ukrainian grain. Since the beginning of the war, due to Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports and constant shelling of infrastructure, they had to look for an alternative.

“This war has forced all of us to look for new ways to export Ukrainian products. When Odesa became inaccessible, we realized that our main opportunity was our western border, which we can reach by rail or road. Therefore, transshipment of agricultural products in the regions became a priority. This transition period is ongoing, and changes continue. We need new solutions, including bulk bags. But we need additional equipment for maxi bags that will allow us to use them – scales, conveyors, front loaders, so that everything will work together,” said Holets.

Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of USAID’s Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine. It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.

For more information about the Ukrainian manufacturer of maxi bags, please follow the link: https://arivapak.com/

USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) will help to conduct an expert review of a new water pipeline project and provide technical and expert support to the Reconstruction Agency in preparing project documentation for construction of new and modernization of existing border crossing points.

This is envisaged by the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 20 July by Timothy Madigan, COP of USAID Economic Resilience Activity, and Mustafa Nayyem, Head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development. The document envisages cooperation in two strategic areas:  construction of a water supply system to four Ukrainian oblasts in the south of the country, and  development of priority border crossing points with the EU and Moldova. The parties set out their intentions in the memorandum.

With the critical drop in the water levels of Kakhovka Reservoir after Russia’s forces blew up the dam, construction of a water pipeline is vital for residents of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv oblasts. The USAID project will conduct an assessment of the new water pipeline project, which is the responsibility of the Recovery Agency.

Another area of partnership will be development of export infrastructure, including modernization of border crossing points.

According to the agreement, USAID ERA will assist the Reconstruction Agency in preparing tender documents for the construction, reconstruction or overhaul of the checkpoints. According to Government Resolution No. 280, construction, reconstruction, repair, maintenance, and operation of checkpoints is the responsibility of the Reconstruction Agency.

“The strategic partnership between Ukraine and USAID ERA is aimed at restoring and developing Ukraine’s infrastructure, increasing its export potential and strengthening the economy as a whole. Our task is to help the country increase its export capabilities by developing infrastructure, including border crossing points. Because of the war, road border crossing points will remain the country’s main export and import gateway for a long time, so their comprehensive development is important to us. With the support of international partners and pre-prepared projects, we will be able to start work faster. The memorandum signed today with the USAID Project defines a clear vision and direction for the development of bilateral relations. We are grateful to our partners for their support and assistance to our country,” said Mustafa Nayyem.

USAID ERA will also support the agency in attracting additional funding, including from international financial institutions, to implement infrastructure projects and develop project management capacity.

On June 19, USAID Economic resilience Activity (ERA) and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum envisages that USAID ERA will support the creation of a training program for veterans and their family members to help demobilized defenders obtain a new profession or grants, and quickly integrate into civilian life after returning from the front.

The Minister of Veterans Affairs Yuliia Laputina talked about the initiatives that the ministry is already implementing and emphasized the important support of international stakeholders to continue this work:

“Partnership with USAID ERA is very important to further our work. We understand that many people will need our support after returning from the front, so we are already working today to help veterans and their families integrate into society. Last week, we opened a Center for the Development of Veterans in Dnipro, and we plan to create such centers in Lviv, Vinnytsia and other cities of Ukraine. In these centers, we will create conditions for the reintegration of veterans – they will be able to undergo retraining, and the centers will also train veterans’ assistants who will facilitate the return of defenders to civilian life.”

Chief of Party (CoP) of USAID ERA, Timothy Madigan, during the signing meeting, spoke about the initiatives that USAID ERA is already implementing in partnership with the State Employment Service, and the Ministry of Social Policy.

“USAID ERA will contribute to the creation of an ecosystem to support veterans and their family members in the short, medium and long term. In particular, it plans to support the creation of a toolkit for veterans’ development centers at educational institutions, to implement a program of expanding opportunities for professional development of veterans, and to support other relevant initiatives in the process of building partnerships. This will provide an opportunity to train specialists who will help veterans get training, get a new profession, apply for a grant and start their own business, and create an effective ecosystem of support and professional development for veterans and their family members,” said Timothy Madigan.

On June 17, the premiere of the film series of six documentaries “Cities and Their Heroes” was held in Chernihiv with the assistance of the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA). One of the films is dedicated to Chernihiv and its heroic inhabitants.

Private security guard Artem Rakitin shares his story in the film. By fate, he became a guide for tens of thousands of people who wanted to leave Chernihiv during the siege and active hostilities in the suburbs. Risking his own life, Rakitin, and his comrades, evacuated more than 26,000 residents of the city of Chernihiv, and thanks to their efforts, all these lives were saved. Not a single civilian was killed or injured during the evacuation – as documented facts show. This amazing and true story of courage and self-sacrifice of Ukrainian men formed the basis of the film.

“We did everything that depended on us. For 10-11 days, we practically did not get out of the car,” – Rakitin recalled at the premiere. “For me, those events are really about the value of a person and human life. And it changed me, changed my meaning of life and attitude towards it. I thank the whole team with whom we did all this!”

“The shooting (of the film) was both easy and difficult at the same time,” recalls the project’s producer Anastasiia Verheles. We hesitated a little as to whether this is really our hero. But director Olha Hibelinda insisted that Artem’s story should be in our film. I am grateful to Artem for his trust. And to his wife – for entrusting us with her son, who is also in our film.”

During the week leading up to the premiere, the organizers also hosted a photo exhibition of the “Cities and Their Heroes” project in Chernihiv. It showcasedphotos taken in various cities of Ukraine that suffered from the Russia’s invasion – landscapes of cities and photos of individual objects, as well as photos of residents of cities that played an important role in the protection of their land from Russia’s invading forces.

The heroes of the photo exhibition from Chernihiv were the city residents whom the war turned into real heroes: a volunteer Olena Kotenko, a copywriter Natalia Orlova, an employee of the State Emergency Service Maksym Zhylko, a musician and volunteer Ihor Khonin, the head of the traumatology department of Chernihiv City Hospital No. 2 Bohdan Rozhylo, the owner of an architectural office and a combat medic Artur Dorokhin, and the chief engineer of electrical networks Andrii Haliuha.

The goal of the project “Cities and Their Heroes” is to showcase the truth about the heroism of the Ukrainian people and the transformation of an ordinary person into a real hero. In six Ukrainian cities – Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Okhtyrka, Bashtanka and Ivankiv –  heroes were chosen for documentary films about these cities. Each film reveals its own page of volunteering, efficiency, and love for one’s country by Ukrainians. The directors of the film are Olha Hibelinda and Andrii Lytvynenko.

The film series have already been shown in the cities where they were filmed – Bashtanska, Okhtyrka, Ivankiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv. They will be presented in Lviv on Saturday, June 24, and in Kyiv on July 3. Learn more about “Cities and Their Heroes” on website of the project and on social networks.