USAID’s AGRI-Ukraine Initiative to Help Store 1.5 Million Tons of Grain and Strengthen Global Food Security

In line with the agreement signed on 21 October between USAID’s AGRO Activity and Lviv Agrarian Advisory Service, 200 small and medium agribusinesses of Lviv Oblast will receive grain storage services. Another 12 similar agreements will be signed within the next three weeks to ensure grain storage services availability for farmers in other regions. The USAID’s Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) will help to store roughly 1.5 million tons of grain under USAID’s broader effort to help Ukraine continue producing and exporting Ukrainian grain to consumers around the world. AGRI-Ukraine, a USAID initiative launched in July to support grain storage, export, processing, production, and access to finance, will deliver 8,000 storage sleeves, 29 grain loading machines, as well as support the establishment of 69 modular grain storage facilities with total capacity of 77,000 tons.

The sub-awardees will establish grain storage sites, procure, and deliver equipment and expendable materials, create and train service teams, provide services to process and store cereal and technical crops, including laboratory services and expert advice on grain storage monitoring, quality control, marketing, and unbagging. Bagging of grain for storage will start by the end of October, and by the end of November all 13 USAID AGRO’s sub-awardees will be providing bagging services.

Agriproducers will pay a fee to the storage service providers, which will help to support the normal market cashflows and ensure the farmers’ harvest is well-looked after until it’s time to sell. In total, the sub-awardees expect to provide services to over 2,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), allowing them to preserve their harvest before they can export or sell for domestic consumption, thereby creating jobs for Ukrainian workers and easing the global food insecurity crisis caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Helping Get Grain out of Ukraine

Millions of tons of harvested grain remain stuck in Ukraine because of Russia’s brutal war and disruption of Ukrainian agriculture and shipping. The grain is stored in elevators and warehouses not designed for storing such volumes: nearly 13 million tons of storage capacity have been destroyed by Russia’s military.  The need for storage capacity grows as this year’s crop is harvested, and there is no certainty whether grain corridors will remain open after November 1. The situation primarily affects small farms that do not have access to grain elevators and warehouses. In 2021, MSME farms (businesses cultivating up to 2,000 hectares) produced about 57 percent of the total volume of grain and accounted for between 40-45 percent of grain exports. Thanks to USAID AGRO’s efforts, micro, small and medium producers of cereal and technical crops will gain access to facilities and capacities for crop processing, drying, and storage, laboratory and consulting support, and services to extend the storage time of crops until farmers can sell them for domestic consumption or export.

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The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), launched the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine to bolster Ukrainian agricultural production and exports and to help alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine. AGRI-Ukraine is critical to supporting Ukraine’s export and agricultural sector needs, which will remain vulnerable to the Russian Federation’s aggression in the months and years to come. USAID contributed $100 million and seeks to leverage an additional $150 million for the Initiative, including from fellow donors, the private sector and foundations, with an overall investment target of $250 million. The lines of effort within AGRI include: 1) Purchase and delivery of critical inputs for farmers who have limited supplies or limited mobility 2) Improve and increase export logistics and infrastructure 3) Increase farmers’ access to financing to enable a full crop harvest 4) Drying, storage, and processing support for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the agriculture sector.

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USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) is implemented by Chemonics International. AGRO aims to accelerate the economic development of rural Ukrainian communities with the greatest need through a better governed agricultural sector that encourages more productive, modern, and profitable micro, small, and medium (MSMEs) agricultural enterprises that are successfully integrated into competitive markets both in Ukraine and internationally.  High-level results for the Activity are: 1) Strengthened food security globally and in Ukraine, 2) Maintained and recovered revenue of agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 3) Increased access for agricultural SMEs to financing, 4) Establishment and advancement of a fair and transparent agricultural land market (land reform) that stimulates economic recovery and protects property rights, and 5) Reduced corruption in the agricultural sector. Since September 1, 2022, AGRO also implements AGRI activity along the four lines of effort: storage and drying, planting support, processing, and access to finance.

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For over 50 years now the American people have been providing economic and humanitarian assistance across the world through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In Ukraine, USAID provides assistance to promote economic development, democracy and governance, health care systems and social services. USAID has partnered with Ukraine since 1992, providing technical and humanitarian assistance. For additional information about USAID in Ukraine please call USAID’s Development Outreach and Communications Office at: (+38 044) 521-57-53. Please visit the Mission’s website: http://www.usaid.gov/ukraine, and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/USAIDUkraine.

Tags: Ukraine, export, USA, grain storage