Department of Agriculture to provide €750,000 to support small family farms in Ukraine
In Ukraine, the poultry sector is a significant contributor to rural livelihoods and incomes, with the meat and eggs playing a key role in household food security and nutrition.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is providing €750,000 in funding to support up to 1,000 small family farms in Ukraine.
Minister Charlie McConalogue met today with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko, to make the announcement.
The €750,000 has been made available for a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project in Ukraine.
The project will support highly vulnerable small-holder farmers and households in rural areas at the frontline of the illegal Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.
It will assist them to meet their immediate food needs and resume food production activities that have been disrupted by military activity and occupation.
Announcing the funding support, Mr McConalogue said: “Ireland and Ukraine share many similarities – we are both rural and agricultural with farming playing a key role [in] our economies and societies.
“Farming, for both our nations, is part of the fabric of people.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko said that Ireland "has been there for Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion".
"The support of the people and the Government of Ireland is unprecedented. We are grateful that Ireland continues to be at the forefront of the humanitarian battle for the lives of the Ukrainian people," Ms Gerasko said.
“The decision of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to allocate €750,000 to this FAO project is another demonstration of Ireland’s unwavering stance with Ukraine.”
The project will be overseen by the FAO in Kyiv whose head of office, Pierre Vauthier, said: “During our visits to frontline communities, we were impressed and moved by the resilience of the people we encountered, many of whom had been forced to stop farming and raising livestock because of the current situation.
"With this contribution from Ireland, highly impacted and vulnerable households in frontline oblasts will be supported with poultry production kits consisting of 30 one-day-old chicks as well as animal feed and supplements.
In Ukraine, the poultry sector is a significant contributor to rural livelihoods and incomes, with the meat and eggs playing a key role in household food security and nutrition.
The ongoing Russian war has resulted in the extensive loss of productive assets with a 20% loss of production capacity in the egg industry.
