Project overview:
The project will promote improved crop and horticultural farming methods to be implemented by medium and small-scale farmers in Ukraine helping maximize its farming potential and increase output, a key for global food security. The new six year project builds on IFC's experience on delivering improving farming methods across Europe and Central Asia for more than a decade. The project will work across the value chain, including input suppliers and their distributors with Bayer CropScience, an international innovative crop science company with long time experience in Ukraine as its anchor partner. Bayer CropScience is one of the world`s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection and seeds which has long time experience in supporting agriculture in Ukraine. Specifically, this project will:
1) focus on changing input supplier support to Ukrainian farmers from a product-oriented approach (product-oriented selling) to a 'solutions to farmer problems' approach;
2) improve local capacity of medium and small-scale farmers by promoting better farm management skills and supporting ICT solutions providers on creating and implementing ICT tools to improve farmer access to high quality extension services required to implement good crop growing technologies;
3) create awareness among the relevant stakeholders through an integrated stakeholder engagement plan and train and coach input supplier and distributors on providing support to small and medium sized farmers on obtaining bank financing. The project will leverage on the IFC and Bayer CropScience Ukraine financing program to SME farmers via Raiffeisenbank Aval and Credit Agricole Bank which offers affordable short-term financing solutions to small and medium sized farmers.