USAID AGRO to provide Ukrainian farmers with free sunflower seeds

MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) for Ukraine will provide Ukrainian farmers with free sunflower seeds through the Lidea Ukraine company under the AGRI Ukraine initiative, Ukrainian media reported with reference to USAID AGRO's post on its social account.

Support will be offered to farmers who earlier filed applications for corn seeds through the State Agrarian Register but who failed to receive them due to shortage.

The program is designed for farmers from the Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Sumy, Kharkov, and Chernigov regions who cultivate from 5 to 500 hectares of farmland. Each famer will be entitled to receive up to 40 sunflower seed units.

Farmers will not have to submit new applications to the State Agrarian Register, as the organizers would reach out to those who have applied previously, USAID AGRO said.

Lidea Ukraine is expected to donate 2,858 sunflower seed units to farmers, and the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities will organize their delivery under the United Communities project.

"Owing to this initiative, farmers will be able to grow at least 24,000 tonnes of sunflower for the market. Preliminary forecasts show that the harvest from free seeds should bring farmers around UAH 360 million in revenue to help revive agricultural production," USAID AGRO said.

As reported, Lidea Ukraine recently granted 3,362 seed units of corn to farmers under USAID's AGRI Ukraine initiative. The acceptance of applications was finished earlier than planned due to excess demand.