The purpose of the Grant Program is to support the organic producers to overcome the current situation and preserve and strengthen the capacity of the organic sector of Ukraine in the mid- and long-term.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion to Ukraine in February 24th, Ukraine’s organic sector, like the entire agricultural and food industries, is being affected. Much of the land used for organic production has been lost in combat or due to occupation. Despite all the difficulties, many organic producers have started the sowing season, provided organic products to the Armed Forces, territorial defence, are providing accommodation and food for the refugees from different parts of Ukraine.
In the first phase, the Grant Program will be available for micro, small and medium enterprises and small-scale farmers in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions which were occupied during the first months of invasion as well as from other regions suffered from active hostilities.
In the first phase the Grant Program will support:
- cost of organic certification;
- purchasing organic products from organic producers (with further distribution among internally displaced persons, vulnerable population, etc);
- support with access to plant protection products, fertilizers and other inputs permitted in organic production, seeds, and other support related to organic technologies.
Producers are invited to send their requests (form of the request and budget) for support by May 20*, 2022, at latest to the e-mail info@organicinitiative.org.ua.
* The application deadline has been extended!
Applicants will be notified of their support decisions no later than June 1, 2022.
The maximum amount of the grant within the 1st phase of the program will be UAH 70,000.
Currently, the Grant Program is financially supported by Switzerland within the framework of the Organic Trade 4 Development in Eastern Europe (OT4D) Program implemented by IFOAM – Organics International in partnership with HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL); the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland), Sunrise Foods International (Canada), Asociace místních potravinových iniciativ (Czech Republic) and BTU-CENTER (Ukraine).
The dates of the 2nd phase of the program will be announced separately and will depend on the availability of funds.
More detailed information about the grant program and request forms can be found by link.
For additional questions, please contact Natalia Cholovska, President of Ecoterra, +38 050 430 76 23.
For information:
The Grant Program was initiated by the Organic Initiative, which includes key players of the organic sector of Ukraine. The Organic Initiative joined forces and resources of like-minded people and started its activities in April 2020, it aims to promote the development of the organic market and increase trade with Ukrainian organic products on the domestic and foreign markets.
The Grant Program is administered by the International Charitable Organization “Information Centre “Green Dossier” and Lviv City Public Organization “Ecoterra” in accordance with the decision of the Organic Initiative and the statutory tasks of the organizations.
The monetary fund of the Grant Program is formed from charitable donations and contributions of individuals and legal entities (residents and non-residents of Ukraine), targeted contributions of international projects / technical assistance programs and other revenues.