The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the agrarian associations "UKAB" and "VAR" expressed their dissatisfaction with the work of the representative office of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations FAO in Ukraine.
Representatives of specialized associations, as well as small and medium-sized farmers, reported that FAO does not implement, does not fully implement, or implements late some of the international aid projects for war-affected regions.
Thus, at the beginning of March 2024, FAO promised to provide Ukrainian small and medium-sized farms and agricultural producers with spring wheat seeds for spring sowing. Applications were accepted until March 10, 2024, but farmers have not yet received the promised seeds.
The ministry noted that the spring wheat sowing campaign is already actively underway in most regions (15 regions), and therefore the relevance of this project is rapidly declining.
Also raising questions among farmers is the project to provide sunflower and soybean seeds, the acceptance of applications for participation in which lasts until March 24.
"Since the distribution of seeds is planned after March 24, but there is no exact date, farmers are unable to plan sowing and cannot count on this assistance. And Ukrainian farmers start sowing soybeans and sunflowers already in April," added the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
A similar situation is observed under the FAO project to support farmers with modular granaries with a capacity of 300, 500 and 1000 tons. To receive these funds, farmers had to register by January 21, 2024. Since then, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy has been receiving complaints from farmers, as they have not yet received the granaries, and the FAO refuses to provide information on the timing of the promised deliveries.
