Business

Seeds for the sowing season: Bayer to support Ukrainian farmers

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, together with the international company Bayer and the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, is launching a program to provide farmers with seed, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

Bayer, with the assistance of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, will provide farmers in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions (excluding the temporarily occupied territories) with corn seeds for the spring 2025 sowing season free of charge.

The seeds will be delivered by the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities within the framework of the United Communities project, which is being implemented with the support of the American people.

Who can receive seed material

To receive assistance, farms must be registered in the State Agrarian Register (SAR) as legal entities or individual entrepreneurs. This includes family farms. If the farm is not yet registered in the State Agrarian Register, it can be done here.

Agricultural producers with 5 to 500 hectares of land under cultivation in the specified regions are eligible to receive assistance.

How to join the program

Interested agricultural producers need to apply to the State Agency for participation in the program “Receiving DEKALB® brand corn seeds”.

Applications will be accepted from April 21 to April 30 or until the amount of assistance is exhausted.

If the application is approved, the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities will send a notification to the e-mail address specified in the application with detailed information on the time and place of seed delivery.

Each approved applicant will be able to receive up to 25 sowing units of corn seeds (at the rate of 1 sowing unit per 1 hectare) depending on the area of land under cultivation. Seed distribution will begin in early May and will last approximately two weeks.

How many farms have already been helped by “United Communities”?

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, with the support of the AGRO Program, has delivered 810 tons of vegetable and grain seeds for the sowing season, including those provided by American companies to restore agricultural production in the affected communities. As a result, more than 1,700 agricultural producers and more than 300,000 households from 971 communities harvested approximately 500,000 tons of crops.

Among the international companies that provided seeds under the project are Bayer, Gowan, Enza Zaden, Syngenta, Lark Seeds, Nunhems, Rijk Zwaan, Hazera, and Seminis.

According to Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the seeds provided by Bayer will allow agricultural producers from the frontline and de-occupied territories to sow approximately 10 thousand hectares of corn and harvest approximately 120 thousand tons of grain.

What is known about the “United Communities” project?

This is a nationwide project that unites partner communities – the rear and central communities of Ukraine – to support and restore outpost communities, i.e. those located along the border and on the contact line, where a significant part of the infrastructure is damaged and destroyed.

Currently, 450 communities are working together as part of the “United Communities” project.

Over 1500 tons of goods have already been delivered to the de-occupied and frontline communities. More than 200,000 people from nearly 600 communities have received assistance. Almost 100 communities and more than 20 organizations have donated this aid.