USAID, Ukrainian ministry announce start of campaign to supply seeds to communities, vulnerable social groups

MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry have announced the start of a campaign to supply vegetable seeds to a number of Ukrainian communities and vulnerable groups of citizens, Ukrainian media said, citing the donor organization's press service.

More than 200,000 households affected by the crisis will receive vegetable seeds donated by Gowan Seed, Bayer and other seed producers as part of the USAID initiative, it said. A total of ten tonnes of seeds will be distributed among displaced persons and vulnerable social groups, including low-income families with multiple children, among other recipients.

"We managed to promptly restore the production levels that cover the demand on the domestic market. As a result, we grew 29 million tonnes of vegetables last year. The Zhitomir and Dnepropetrovsk regions are among the leaders. We can now confirm that vegetable production in 2023 was almost the same as in 2022, and Ukrainians were sufficiently provided with vegetables," Agrarian Policy and Food Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization Denis Bashlyk said at the ceremony handing over the seeds to Ukraine.