FAO Digital Media Hub - UKRAINE / FOOD SECURITY

UKRAINE / FOOD SECURITY

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is providing high-quality seeds to smallholder farmers and agricultural assistance for rural communities in front-line regions of Ukraine to ensure they will not miss the spring planting season.

Country Ukraine

Duration 4m16s

Edit Version International

Video Type Video News Release (VNR)

Date 05/19/2023 1:52 PM

File size 564.19 MB

Unique ID UF2I2S

All editorial uses permitted

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Shotlist STORY: UKRAINE / FOOD SECURITY

TRT: 04’16’’

SOURCE: FAO

RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN

LANGUAGE: UKRAINIAN / RUSSIAN / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 APRIL 2023, ROME, ITALY / RECENT

SHOTLIST

19 APRIL 2023, KHARKIVSKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

1.   Wide shot, forklift unloading seeds’ bags

2.   Med shot, farmers loading a van with maize and sunflower seeds’ bags

3.   Wide shot, farmers in a warehouse with seeds bags

4.   Pan righ, forklift unloading seeds’ bags

5.   Med shot, farmers loading a van with maize and sunflower seeds’s bags

6.   SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian), Viktor Dzyuba, farmer: "Since the beginning of the war, many problems have arisen. The first problem is how to hand over the crop. Prices dropped a lot, our products were not well bought. Secondly, there was not enough fuel and it was very tight with seed material. There was no money to buy it and fix the equipment. Everything was very difficult."

7.   Wide shot, farmers registering to receive maize and sunflower seeds’

8.   Med shot, FAO staff registering farmers ahead of seeds’ distribution

9.   SOUNDBITE (Russian), Svitlana Murashka, farmer: "We received barley seeds before. We planted and looked forward to it. When we were on the field, we saw shoots. I want to say that the shoots are very pleasing. We hope that the same germination will be for corn."

11 APRIL 2023, ODESKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

10. Med shot, farmers registering to receive vouchers

11. Close up, vouchers being distributed

12. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian), Olena Donchenko, rural family member: "We plan to improve the conditions for our residents [animals], because we don't have enough money for everything. We need [money for] this and that, and there is not enough money for the rest. Now we are planning to improve the conditions, to insulate the premises, because especially milk goats need to be in cozy, warm place, without wind and drafts."

19 APRIL 2023, KHARKIVSKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

13. Wide shot, pallet being loaded with seeds’ bags

14. Med shot, forklift moving seeds’ bags

15. Med shot, farmers loading a van with maize and sunflower seeds’ bags

28 APRIL 2023, ROME, ITALY

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Ukraine Country Office: "The situation in particular for the rural households, the very small family household producing a very, very small production, but very important for the food security of the country, are in difficulties because they, of course, have been affected by the war and at the same time, the global assistance that was very efficient to assist Ukrainian people in terms of the cash transfer, not necessarily reach these rural populations for different reasons. Because they don't register, because they don't know what to do, etcetera. So, there is a number of, some barriers for them in order to access to this humanitarian assistance".

20 APRIL 2023, TERNOPILSKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

17. Wide shot, farmer feeding chicken with feed distributed by FAO

18. Close up, chicken eating

28 APRIL 2023, ROME, ITALY

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Ukraine Country Office: "Our target is to address half a million households [in 2023], which is more or less one million person. This populations have to be autonomous because they want it and because it's possible for them to go back on the normal activities. So doing in the villages, in the countryside, doing the activities and the resuming. For that, they need some support, they need some cash transfer, but accompanied with some technical equipment, some seeds, some inputs. So if we can do what, the objective, the challenge of FAO, the bet of FAO is to help all these half million of households in this frontline and eastern side to restart rebuilding the economy. And this will have a good impact for them, but also for the populations in the rural areas living around them."

11 APRIL 2023, ODESKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

20. Med shot, farmer buying equipment with vouchers received from FAO

21. Wide shot, farmer buying equipment with vouchers received from FAO

19 APRIL 2023, KHARKIVSKA OBLAST, UKRAINE

22. Close up, forklift loading seeds’ bag on a truck

23. Tracking shot, forklift loading seeds’ bag on a truck

Script The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is providing high-quality seeds to smallholder farmers and agricultural assistance for rural communities in front-line regions of Ukraine to ensure they will not miss the spring planting season.

This year, over 8 000 small-scale farmers have been provided with spring barley, spring wheat and spring pea seeds, as well as maize and sunflower seeds. And roughly 30 000 rural families have been supported with vegetable seeds, seed potatoes, animal feed, cash and vouchers for purchasing agricultural inputs.

According to FAO, in 2022 almost 20 percent of grain and oil crop production has been lost due to the war in front-line regions, combined with farmers' limited access to markets and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, fuel, pesticides, and seeds. Families, living in rural areas, have been also forced to stop agricultural production, with one in every three families having done so in the front-line oblasts.

SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian), Viktor Dzyuba, farmer: "Since the beginning of the war, many problems have arisen. The first problem is how to hand over the crop. Prices dropped a lot, our products were not well bought. Secondly, there was not enough fuel and it was very tight with seed material. There was no money to buy it and fix the equipment. Everything was very difficult."

Seeds were distributed in nine front-line oblasts, such as Chernihivska, Sumska, Kharkivska, Donetska, Dnipropetrovska, Zaporizka, Mykolaivska, Khersonska and Odeska to help farmers sustain their livelihoods and reestablish agricultural production disrupted by the war.

SOUNDBITE (Russian), Svitlana Murashka, farmer: "We received barley seeds before. We planted and looked forward to it. When we were on the field, we saw shoots. I want to say that the shoots are very pleasing. We hope that the same germination will be for corn."

The rural families have been supported with the needed assistance for the households farming. Vegetable seeds, seed potatoes are already sown for the harvesting in autumn, and animal feed will help families to keep the production for the next 3 month. Over 2 200 families in Sumska, Odeska and Mykolaivska oblasts have been also supported with vouchers to purchase tools and building materials urgently needed to repair livestock shelters and continue the livestock production.

Olena Donchenko, 55, from the Odeska oblast is planning to repair the roof and insulate the barn where the animals are kept.

SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian), Olena Donchenko, rural family member: "We plan to improve the conditions for our residents [animals], because we don't have enough money for everything. We need [money for] this and that, and there is not enough money for the rest. Now we are planning to improve the conditions, to insulate the premises, because especially milk goats need to be in cozy, warm place, without wind and drafts."

Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Ukraine Country Office, explains that rural population and small farmers from Ukraine's front-line oblasts play a crucial role in the country's food security, however they have been less reached by international assistance.

SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Ukraine Country Office: "The situation in particular for the rural households, the very small family household producing a very, very small production, but very important for the food security of the country, are in difficulties because they, of course, have been affected by the war and at the same time, the global assistance that was very efficient to assist Ukrainian people in terms of the cash transfer, not necessarily reach these rural populations for different reasons. Because they don't register, because they don't know what to do, etcetera. So, there is a number of, some barriers for them in order to access to this humanitarian assistance".

FAO has been working in Ukraine for the last 20 years. Since the beginning of the war, it has ramped up its activities significantly to ensure food security for small-scale farmers and production continuity throughout the country. In 2022, FAO distributed around 30 000 grain sleeves and 105 sets of supporting equipment to local farmers, providing temporary storage solutions for the grain harvested, and supported over 31 000 rural households with vegetable seeds and seed potatoes and 2 000 rural households with cash in the oblasts most affected by the war. Approximately 5 400 tonnes of winter wheat seeds were also distributed to over 1 500 small-scale farmers and 6 600 rural households.

SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Vauthier, Head of FAO Ukraine Country Office: "Our target is to address half a million households [in 2023], which is more or less one million person. This populations have to be autonomous because they want it and because it's possible for them to go back on the normal activities. So doing in the villages, in the countryside, doing the activities and the resuming. For that, they need some support, they need some cash transfer, but accompanied with some technical equipment, some seeds, some inputs. So if we can do what, the objective, the challenge of FAO, the bet of FAO is to help all these half million of households in this frontline and eastern side to restart rebuilding the economy. And this will have a good impact for them, but also for the populations in the rural areas living around them."

FAO is operating in Ukraine in close collaboration with the Government of Ukraine, United Nations agencies, and national and international non-governmental organizations, to respond to the urgent needs of small agricultural producers, protect upcoming agricultural campaigns, and support the continued functioning of productive food systems, with the aim of contributing to both national and global food security.

Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Central Emergency Response Fund, the European Union, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, the Minderoo Foundation, Norway, the Sustainable Development Goals Fund, the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund and the United States of America have provided financial support to FAO for these operations.

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