Agriculture

Institutional and Policy Reform for Smallholder Agriculture Project (IPRSA)

Spanning phases I, II, and III, ISPRA is designed to foster a more inclusive, sustainable, and competitive agricultural sector in Ukraine. This initiative aims to protect the environment, raise rural incomes, and reduce migration from rural areas, especially during the current challenging wartime context. The project has played an essential role in ensuring agriculture remains a key contributor to Ukraine’s food security and export revenues.

Thanks to IPRSA support, Ukraine has developed long-term strategies for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and irrigation, which is also important in the context of Ukraine's efforts to achieve EU membership. Internal controls and risk management have also been improved within the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food (MAPF) and related agencies. In preparation for EU accession, IPRSA has helped to harmonise Ukrainian agricultural laws with EU standards, aided bilateral screening preparations, and backed MAPF with ongoing legal and technical drafting.

Critical systems like the State Agrarian Registry and the Agro-Diia digital platform have been launched to improve transparency and farmer participation. To boost advisory services and research, the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) was established, reaching over 2,000 people through training and building connections with EU AKIS networks. IPRSA created maps, zoning studies, and registration tools to help with viticulture, certification of geographically indicated products, and tourism and branding projects. Further efforts included piloting the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network, supporting value chain development in key sectors, and forming smallholder innovation groups in rural communities.

During phase II, IPRSA continued to provide technical support for drafting the initial EU accession questionnaires and preparing bilateral screening presentations for Chapters 11 and 13, including organising mock screening sessions. Phase III will further reinforce Ukraine’s agriculture sector, preparing it for future integration into the EU.

Ukraine Agri-Food Value Chain (UAFA) Technical Assistance Project

To increase private-sector investment in selected value chains, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Government of Ukraine jointly agreed on a €400 million Ukraine Agri-food APEX Loan, which makes available very substantial resources for mid-caps and SME investments in an effort to increase their productivity and profitability.

NIRAS, in a consortium with AESA, TA Consult, and Unicon, was contracted to support the implementation of the loan. Through the UAFA TA Facility, up to February 2022, NIRAS was providing complementary services to agricultural SMEs in order to facilitate disbursement of the loan to eligible investments in the target value chains – cereals, oil seeds and aquaculture and fisheries. The team supported participation of financial institutions and borrowers to ensure they fully enjoy the benefits of the UAFA project, from providing business advisory services to agribusinesses, consulting participating financial institutions, delivering training programmes, and providing capacity building and institutional support.

The project team navigated through some of the most challenging times with grace and flexibility, ensuring that the successful implementation of the project continued. From February 2022, the nature of the TA changed substantially, and the team transferred their effort to focus on analysing impacts of the war on the two value chains and consequences for farmers and SMEs, as well as various coping strategies. This included the logistical challenges facing grain export and possible solutions thereof. The findings were presented in a bi-monthly digest targeted at the EIB and other stakeholders. After March 2022, the team successfully delivered 30 information digests, numerous webinars as well as an eLearning platform, creating a convenient learning space to strengthen the capacity of external service providers was developed.