In August 2023, USAID, through its Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), delivered two Rakoraf mechanical grain samplers to Nibulon at its Bessarabska branch, a river terminal on the Danube River. These samplers provide a quick and reliable method for sampling grains and oilseeds from open vehicles and delivering the samples to the laboratory. This new equipment enabled Nibulon to increase vehicle processing speeds by 75% daily, facilitate laboratory testing, and accelerate agricultural exports.   

The samplers complement two existing ones that were often out of service due to wear and tear. With the new, additional samplers from USAID ERA, Nibulon bolstered the amount of cargo accepted by road and processed 350 vehicles per day at the Bessarabska branch, a 75% increase in capacity. 

During the 2023-2024 marketing year, Nibulon used the new samplers to conduct incoming grain quality control on approximately 43,450 vehicles, or 1,1 million tons of grain, representing 90% of the total grain volume entering Nibulon’s Bessarabska branch.  

The Bessarabska branch transships grain from road and rail to river transport, primarily bound for Constanta, Romania. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the ports in Odesa ceased operations, the Bessarabska branch became Nibulon’s main export channel. Nibulon exported 64% of its grain through this terminal in the first quarter of 2023.  When the Black Sea Grain Corridor opened, flows through the Bessarabska branch decreased, but it remains an important export route for the agri exporter.

Despite a drone attack that damaged the branch’s warehouses in August 2023, the terminal quickly resumed operations, allowing Nibulon to continue delivering grain to global markets. 

By operating the terminal, the company not only exports grain to people who need it but also supports the local economy by paying taxes and creating jobs.

Under USAID’s AGRI-Initiative, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) is strengthening agro-exports:

  $37 million in private investment leveraged in March-May 2024 by  37 AGRI firms

25 Private businesses, Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Reni Port, and

10 Phytosanitary Labs under the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection  $32.1 million in equipment delivered as of July 2024

 Between January – May 2024, AGRI equipment moved 367,339 MT of agricultural exports

USAID’s 25 AGRI beneficiaries exported 631,162 MT  between March 2023 and May 2024

On July 18, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, USAID/Ukraine Mission Director Julie Konen, and representatives of USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) visited the agricultural exporter, Agro-Region in Kyiv Oblast. 

The delegation toured Agro-Region’s facilities to see their phytosanitary laboratory, silos, USAID-provided trucks and how grain is loaded into USAID provided grain wagons for export.  

To bolster grain exports, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) delivered 25 grain wagons, two truck scales, two telescopic handlers, and two generators to AR Boryspil under AGRI Ukraine. In addition, ERA delivered three grain trailers to Harna Lohistyka, another company in the holding group Agro-Region.  

Agro-Region is currently in the prime season for collecting grain for exports. Around 100 farmers from Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Khmelnytskyi bring their rapeseed and wheat to Agro-Region, who has a capacity of 4,000 tons of grain. Even with rolling blackouts, Agro-Region continues to receive grain from farmers with the help of the USAID-provided generator.  

“Thanks to the help of USAID, [Agro Region Boryspil] plans to increase the volume of farm grain purchases, expand the list of partner farms and find the best conditions for cooperation,” says Vitaly Shevchuk, Head of the Boryspil Elevator at Agro-Region. “USAID’s assistance will also ensure uninterrupted grain receiving, storage, and processing services at the elevator in Boryspil and other facilities in Velyka Oleksandrivka.” 

During the discussion with the Ambassador and Agro-Region representatives, Agro-Region’s partner farmers talked about how they work during the war and the challenges they face, such as damaged agricultural machinery, mobilization of workers, and power outages. Farmers also thanked the U.S. government for the support they provide to the Ukrainian people during the war. 

“We have been working with Agro-Region for more than eight years, and they are a reliable partner,” shared Farm Owner Pavlo Petrov from Brovary district. “Every year I see how the company changes, becomes more modern, which helps me understand export trends. Despite power outages, weather conditions, and changes in fuel prices, we continue to sow grain. We believe that this year we will have higher quality grain, so we will sell it at a higher price,” he continued.  

Despite difficult spring conditions coupled with power outages, farmers hope that this year’s grain will be of higher quality than last year, so that exporters like Agro-Region can offer them top prices and move more grain with USAID-provided equipment.

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.

On July 17, on the Danube, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration (USPA) officially raised the Ukrainian flag on the USAID-provided pilot boat, symbolizing the boat is now fully operational. USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) purchased the pilot boat for USPA to support seafaring operations in the Danube River transporting maritime pilots between land and inbound/outbound ships, impacting logistical efficiency of cargo and export processing. 

Ukrainian Marine Shipbuilding (UMS) built the pilot boat in half a year. The vessel can carry 12 crew members and reach speeds of up to 22 knots. The boat is equipped with modern Swedish engines, it can autonomously stay on the water for up to 12 hours, and it even has a recreation area for the crew. 

The USAID-provided pilot boat named Hennadii Zhuravkov, will replace the boat Orlyk, which was blown up by a mine in 2022. The USAID-provided pilot boat was named in honor of Captain 1st rank Hennadii Zhuravkov, who worked for more than 20 years at the Delta-Lotsman branch of USPA, holding the position of Head of Odesa Regional Department of the State Enterprise USPA.  

Two more USAID-provided pilot boats are on the way to USPA and are currently under construction in Turkey.  

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.  

Under USAID’s AGRI-Initiative, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) purchased 310 wagons for 9 partners to continue timely delivery of grain to foreign markets. 

After Kakhovka dam was destroyed, Nibulon’s 13 ports on the Dnipro and Pivdennyi Buh rivers were blocked. Nibulon turned to land routes to move grain. With 50 USAID-provided wagons holding 70 tons of grain each, Nibulon was able to build new logistics pathways and reduce the cost of transportation, ultimately allowing Nibulon to continue their exports and save almost 600 jobs.  

“The wagons received from USAID in August 2023 have already transported 73,000 tons of Ukrainian grain,” said Mykhailo Rizak, Nibulon’s Director for Interaction with Public Authorities. “With this help from international partners, we saved jobs in the blocked river port that were cut off from water logistics.”  

ERA partner Eridon received 20 wagons in January 2024 and have already transported more than 10,000 tons of grain. 

“Eridon works with more than 12,000 agricultural producers. Previously, Eridon rented wagons, and thanks to this help, it reinvested money in increasing export capacity and paying additional premiums to farmers,” shared Serhii Hrіaznov, Eridon CEO. “Long-term loyal farmers received about UAH 210 (5 USD) extra than the average market price for 1 ton of grain, which is significant financial support for small agricultural producers during a full-scale war.” 

Cygnet’s 15 USAID-provided wagons oscillate between their central elevators to Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Cygnet was able to export their 2023 excess harvest to foreign markets and the wagons decreased logistics costs by 11%.  

“The new wagons will allow Cygnet to increase transportation savings by up to 40% this season. Currently, the cost of transportation is UAH 530 (12.8 USD) /mt against the commercial market price of UAH 850 (20.5 USD)/mt,” says the Cygnet Group Commercial Director, Natalia Bohdanovych. “It will also make it possible to offer a full service from the elevator to the port at an attractive price, and thereby deliver more Ukrainian grain to foreign markets that need it.” 

Twenty-five USAID-provided wagons are enabling Almeida to reduce the costs of wagon rentals and their reliance on third-party providers.  

“For our team, getting the new grain wagons was motivating, as we lost a significant portion of our production assets when the full-scale invasion began. We expect the use of railcars to increase total export capacity by 39,000 tons per year,“ explained Director of Almeida Group, Maksym Volchenko “Already in May, we were able to transport more than 2,000 tons of grain for export, and in June this volume reached more than 2,400 tons. We have plans and have begun implementing measures to significantly increase our own fleet of wagons and grain trucks.” 

By the end of August 2024, USAID ERA plans to deliver an additional 40 wagons to partners. 

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. 

Over the last 2 years, USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) has provided 58 grain trailers for 12 agricultural companies through USAID’s Agricultural Resilience Initiative (AGRI) Ukraine to facilitate grain exports.  

With traditional export routes blocked during the war, many of ERA’s private sector partners pivoted their grain export logistics strategies, turning to more use of trailers, which can play a key logistics role, such as reaching blocked river ports by road. 

ERA’s partner Nibulon received 13 grain trailers in May 2024, each with a carrying capacity of 25.5 tons. These USAID-provided trailers will transport grain from Nibulon’s headquarters at blocked river ports to Odesa ports and will help preserve nearly 600 jobs in Mykolaiv. 

Fenix Agro, another ERA partner, received 4 grain trailers from USAID. Prior to the war, Fenix Agro rented trailers, which were expensive and added transportation costs. 

“Thanks to the USAID-provided trailers, Fenix Agro will reduce the total cost of grain logistics,” explains Oleksandr Tetianko, Executive Director of Fenix Agro. “Having our own fleet of trailers will make it possible to expand the volume of road exports directly from the Ukrainian agricultural producer, primarily from small and medium-sized farmers who are strategic partners of Fenix Agro. We cooperate with more than 400 farmers from Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi and Odesa oblasts.” 

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.