By KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The US government, as part of Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine), will provide 7,000 Ukrainian agricultural producers with free mineral fertilizers for the spring planting season in 2024, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has reported.
According to the report, through the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO), 14,000 tonnes of fertilizers will be transferred to Ukrainian agricultural producers. Each participant will be able to receive up to 2 tonnes of mineral fertilizer (urea) per farm.
Registration for assistance will take place in the State Agrarian Register in the Available Programs section – USAID AGRO urea for spring grains and oilseeds in 2024.
Agricultural producers who have from 5 hectares to 500 hectares under cultivation in any region of Ukraine (with the exception of temporarily occupied territories), grow grains or oilseeds, are registered as legal entities or sole proprietors, in particular, family farms and comply with other program conditions can receive aid.
Agreed applicants cultivating from 5 hectares to 20 hectares of land (own and leased) will receive 1 tonne of fertilizer, and those cultivating from 20 hectares to 500 hectares – 2 tonnes. Priority in receiving fertilizers will be given to farms whose owners or applicants are women (according to information in the State Agrarian Register).
Submission of applications will last from November 1 to November 14.
The distribution of fertilizers is planned for November-December 2023.
USAID said that due to disrupted logistics, low grain prices and depletion of their own resources, small farmers are often unable to purchase the necessary fertilizers. According to a survey by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, for the upcoming 2024 harvest, fertilizer application is expected to be half the agronomic requirement – at 47%. Only 10% of respondents, including large- and medium-sized producers, are ready to fully meet their need for fertilizers.
The fertilizer distribution program is part of USAID AGRO’s activities within the framework of the AGRI-Ukraine initiative. About 8,200 farmers have already received fertilizers and corn and sunflower seeds in the spring of 2023, and about 12,000 farmers have received fertilizers during the autumn sowing season of 2023.
USAID AGRO support also met farmers’ needs for seeds and fertilizers for a sown area of about 370,000 hectares, which made it possible to grow more than 110,000 tonnes of sunflower seeds and increase yields, harvesting an additional 220,000 tonnes of grain.
