Roman, from the Kharkiv region, has been working in agriculture since 2001. He was inspired by his father and godfather who, after the collapse of Ukraine’s collective farms in 2000, tried to work and cultivate land independently. Roman worked with them for a while, before breaking out on his own – registering as a private entrepreneur and gradually expanding his own farm. Today, he cultivates 120 hectares of leased and privately owned land, growing grains and oilseeds: wheat, barley, sunflower, and corn.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the country’s farmers have faced barriers to accessing working capital to buy fertilizers or further develop their enterprises. USAID supports small farmers like Roman to help them survive through Russia’s ongoing war, by strengthening access to key components of the grain production and export cycle: seeds, fertilizers, access to finance, grain storage, export solutions, and more. This year, Roman was one of 7,621 agricultural producers across 23 regions of Ukraine who received fertilizers from USAID to support the 2024 spring sowing season. This fertilizer will enable Ukraine’s farmers to nourish their crops, ensuring that they can continue to provide food and income for Ukrainian families during the war.
“Prices for fertilizers are very high now, and it is impossible to fully provide them yourself. Thanks to AGRI-Ukraine I received fertilizers for free this year and we could feed the winter barley. If we had not received these fertilizers, we could have done nothing, because there was no money. I found out about this support program from friends and registered through the State Agrarian Registry,” says Roman.
Russia’s war has significantly impacted Roman’s farm - which has survived so far due to grain sales made in January 2022, just before the full-scale invasion.
“It is very difficult to work in such conditions: low prices for grain, the war… At the beginning of the last sowing campaign, I joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and my son was cultivating the land. I served 13 months and came back home to work.” But Roman is ready to learn how to improve his farm, and share his hard-won knowledge. “I would like to learn something new, to exchange experience with American farmers. I would like it if they came to us, and we could visit them. I would show them everything, and it is interesting to see new technologies and techniques. It’s my dream to see how they work.”
Despite all the challenges he faces due to Russia’s war, Roman believes in Ukraine’s victory. The farm has a warehouse for storing grain, and he hopes to use this to store and sell grain at a more favorable price so he can invest back into his business.
“Do not lose heart in such a difficult time” he says, “Work and work again.”
In 2023 and early 2024, USAID provided seeds and fertilizers to more than 14,000 Ukrainian agricultural producers through the Agri-Ukraine initiative. This assistance supported farmers to work over 460,000 hectares of Ukrainian farmland, and helped to grow at least 2 million tons of grain.
