Leading by example

WHAT:

Ukraine’s endowments of land resources and other production factors are internationally recognised as providing favourable conditions for arable crop production and wild collection. The goal of the Swiss-Ukrainian project "Organic Market Development in Ukraine 2012 - 2018" is to foster the growth of small and medium enterprises in the Ukrainian organic food sector by developing organic and regional food supply chains. The focus is on both national and international markets and the approach is demand driven. The project aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s organic sector.

WHERE:

Ukraine

WHO & HOW:

The project "Organic Market Development in Ukraine 2012 - 2018" aimed to strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s organic sector by:

• increasing the quality and volume of selected organic arable crops and dairy products from small and medium-sized farms;
• improving commercial organic services;
• fostering a conducive environment for the further development of the organic sector.

During the project, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) successfully worked with advanced, partly large farms, where chances to establish successfully organic production practices and export ventures were high. These farms served as showcases for small and medium sized farms following their example. With this basic conceptual idea in mind, the “Leader Approach” was conceived, with clear methodological steps. The Leader Approach is not a scientific but a flexible and market driven approach in order to develop a specific sector.

On 30 July 2018, the organic law of Ukraine, which is harmonized with the European Union organic legislation, has been signed. The project has made essential contributions to elaborating this legislation by providing technical expertise to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and other Ukrainian organic stakeholders that were actively involved in the development of the legislation.

MORE INFO
Tobias Eisenring, Project presentation
Email: tobias.eisenring@fibl.org, Tel: +41 6 28 65 04 20