USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) provided five telehandlers to members of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council, Ukraine’s largest public association of more than 1,200 small and medium-sized agribusinesses from across the country. 

These telehandlers will bolster operations at Agrofirma Dzvony, Kushpit, AGRO-ORMS, Agroco, and Kischenzi. The equipment will accelerate elevators operations and increase the grain transportation capacity of these medium-sized firms to 185,130 tons annually. 

Agrofirma Dzvony, a family-owned enterprise, expects the modern telehandler to optimize overall work at the elevator and amplify its transportation capacity by 150%. The company will use the telehandler to load trailers under the canopy during harvest, transport grain, and fill big bags with grain. Dzvony specializes in growing wheat, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, and sunflowers.  

Another beneficiary of the USAID-provided telehandler is Kushpit, a family-owned business that anticipates improvements in grain storage facility operations with the new equipment. Two of the company’s three telehandlers are outdated, impacting overall efficiency. While telehandlers are utilized across various operations, Kushpit plans to use the new equipment to expedite transportation at the elevator. The existing telehandlers will be repurposed for land plot afforestation, grubbing, and chip overloading related to these reforestation efforts. 

AGRO-ORMS, an agri firm, plans to increase its grain transshipment capacity and optimize logistics costs with the new telescopic handler. Due to the dispersed locations of its shipping points, the company currently rents an additional telehandler to supplement its own. AGRO-ORMS expects that utilizing two telehandlers will enable simultaneous shipment from two warehouses, ultimately doubling the speed of grain trailer loading. It will decrease downtime and expedite delivery to ports or borders, potentially leading to a 250% increase in exports.  

Furthermore, USAID ERA provided a telehandler to Kischenzi, a diversified farm, that integrates agricultural, dairy, vegetable, and pig farming operations. The company will utilize the USAID-provided telehandler to manage grain movement within storage warehouses and facilitate loading onto vehicles for further transshipment to Ukrainian ports. With the new telehandler, Kischenzi anticipates a 50% increase in grain loading capacity, enabling it to handle up to 4,500 tons of grain daily.  

Lastly, USAID ERA provided a telehandler to Agroco, a diversified agri enterprise. Founded in 2001, Agroco cultivates corn, soybeans, sunflowers, and wheat while operating a dairy farm. The new telehandler will enhance the company’s grain handling efficiency at the elevator. Previously, relying on shared equipment from their livestock operations, Agroco expects to double their daily grain loading capacity from 500 to 1,000 tons with the telehandler. This improvement will accelerate technological processes and reduce costs associated with loading rented rail wagons. 

Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.       

In May 2024, the state enterprise, Ukrainian of Sea Ports Authority (USPA) received a pilot boat from the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) to strengthen the export capacity of seaports, by transporting maritime pilots between land and inbound/outbound ships, impacting logistical efficiency of cargo and export processing. 

Since July 17, the Ukrainian flag raising ceremony symbolized placing the Hennadii Zhuravkov pilot boat into service, delivering pilots to facilitate commercial shipping on the river and sea ports. During the three months of active use (July-September), the team on Hennadii Zhuravkov, delivered pilots to more than 400 jobs, accounting for 20% of all pilot services. 

On board Hennadii Zhuravkov there are usually two people, a captain and a sailor, working an 11-hour shift, and it generally takes 1 hour 7 minutes to complete one pilot delivery operation. This is 33% faster than on previous pilot boats that took 1 hour 40 minutes. In total Hennadii Zhuravkov processed 417 vessels, 57 in July, 203 in August, and 157 in September. 

“Most of the ships where we delivered pilots by boat, are dry cargo ships that mainly transport grain cargo for export from Ukraine, as well as construction materials and livestock,” says Oleksandr Holodnytskyi, Head of the Delta-Lotsman branch of USPA. “The new pilot boat ensures uninterrupted operations in the seaport, which is very important for the Ukrainian economy during the war. This has a positive effect on the growth of the seaport’s logistical capabilities, avoiding delays in the pilot service work, and increasing the port’s potential daily throughput capacity. It was with clear and convincing calculations that USAID ERA provided us with such a valuable pilot boat built for our needs, and we are grateful for that!” 

Recently, the second pilot boat USAID is building for USPA, named Pilot Cheberiakov, successfully completed sea trials. In total, USPA will receive three pilot boats to further strengthen the export capacity of the Ukrainian economy on the Danube and Black Sea ports.  

Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.

In September, the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) formalized partnerships with the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB), Ukrainian Grain Association (UZA), and Spike Marketing LLC. The signed memorandums outline plans to participate in international conferences and export exhibitions in and outside Ukraine, extend invitations to key buyers to visit Ukraine to familiarize themselves with the market, hold B2B meetings in potential markets, as well as improve the skills of employees of Ukrainian companies in the agricultural sector. 

• The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), a business association, will develop market connections and new opportunities for exporting agricultural products, improve employee qualifications within agricultural companies, and inspire younger generations to get involved in agriculture. 

• The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA), a business association, will focus on developing export sales and connections with international markets for grain and oil crop exports. 

• Spike Marketing LLC, who specializes in logistics and agricultural exports, will increase the export potential for farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

These strategic partnerships will contribute to increasing Ukrainian producers’ competitiveness in the global market and contribute to making Ukraine an attractive market for future business opportunities.

Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.

From September 16 to 19, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), in partnership with the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB), visited Ireland with 9 representatives of UCAB’s member companies to explore and expand agricultural commodity export opportunities. With close to five million tons of imports annually, Ukrainian grain traders were able to identify strong market opportunities for export to Ireland during the meeting with TOP 3 commodities importers in Ireland and continental Europe, including R&H Hall, Cefetra, and ADM. The Waterford Port visit provided the delegates with an understanding of the port operations dynamics in Ireland and highlighted specific opportunities for handysize combi-load shipments to Ireland. The delegates attended fruitful meetings with SFSI, Teagasc and got valuable insights into global agri-food best practices, sustainability trends and evolving market requirement needs within the European Union.

With support from USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), at least 20 Ukrainian agricultural logistics companies can purchase grain handling equipment from the Kobzarenko Plant, an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Ukraine, at a 30% discount, potentially increasing the country’s grain exports and transshipment capacity by 2.5 million tons per year. 

This USAID ERA initiative is available to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with annual revenues of less than EUR 40 million. Ukrainian agro-holding companies and firms that have already received or will soon receive assistance from USAID ERA are not eligible. 

Qualified agri companies can purchase equipment to improve the efficiency of grain transshipment processes at critical nodes along the export route, including: 

• Mobile wagon unpacker RWМ-180 (tractor and electric power variations) 

• Ground transshipment bunkers BNP-12 “Kovcheg” (tractor and electric power variations) 

• Ground transshipment bunkers BNP-3 “Kovcheg” (tractor power variation) 

• Belt loader СN-25 (electric power variation) 

ERA will cover 30% of the cost for 51 pieces of equipment from the Kobzarenko Plant. 

On September 3, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) delivered the last 3,000 flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) grain bags (big bags) to the agricultural exporter, Grain Alliance. This was the final delivery of the 70,000 big bags bulk purchase. 

A big bag is a soft, pliable, container made of polyethylene, which carries 1 to 2 tons of grain (corn, wheat, soybeans). The advantage of big bags is that they protect the grain from rain and snow during road or rail transportation.  

These versatile big bags offer 70,000+ tons of storage capacity and allow Grain Alliance to be more adaptable with its supply chains. Big bags transport grain in open trucks and wagons while maintaining the grain’s high quality. Conveniently, big bags also offer the opportunity to transport cargo back to avoid returning empty. Lastly, big bags can be used as a short-term warehouse option in case the Black Sea ports are blocked again. 

Currently, Grain Alliance uses the USAID-provided big bags to store seeds. The exporter also plans to use the big bags to transport grain from their elevators in the central regions. Should another forced logistics strategy change happen again, Grain Alliance will have the option to transport grain by trucks via the Western border with the big bags to continue their export operations uninterrupted.  

Grain Alliance is among the top 20 agricultural companies of Ukraine. 

Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.