First Food from Ukraine agrohub will be launched in Ghana

Ukraine and the UN World Food Program (WFP) plan to deepen strategic cooperation within the framework of the Food from Ukraine humanitarian initiative, develop international networks of agrohubs, and scale up humanitarian demining and rehabilitation programs for rural communities.

The parties agreed on this during a meeting between representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture and the WFP delegation, the Ukrainian agency reports.

The key topic of the negotiations was the scaling up of the Food from Ukraine humanitarian initiative as the next stage of the Grain from Ukraine program. This involves a gradual transition from raw material exports to the formation of a network of international agro-food hubs in Africa and the Middle East.

“A promising direction of our cooperation is the development of the Food from Ukraine initiative and the network of agrohubs in Africa. We have already taken practical steps to launch the first hub in Ghana and plan to scale up this initiative in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the UAE. This model allows us to simultaneously support Ukrainian farmers and help countries of the Global South overcome food crises. We look forward to WFP’s continued leadership in partnership with Ukraine to scale up Food from Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture.

The first regional agrohub is planned to be deployed in Ghana, where the reconstruction of warehouse and production facilities and local production of pasta from Ukrainian flour have already begun. It is expected that ready-made food kits will combine Ukrainian and local products and will serve as regional logistics centers for a rapid response to food crises.

The parties also discussed two models of further cooperation in humanitarian demining, in particular, financing by WFP with tenders through Ukrainian mechanisms or involving national expertise during procurement under WFP procedures.

The parties confirmed their intention to continue high-level interaction, expand cooperation between WFP and FAO in the field of demining and land restoration, and ensure the implementation of the WFP Interim Strategic Plan in Ukraine until 2027.

Tags: Grain from Ukraine, Ukraine, Ghana