On Tuesday, July 18 in the Port of Odesa in Ukraine, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power announced that USAID’s Agriculture Resilience Initiative - Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) is expanding its partnership with Bayer to provide an additional $15.5 million investment for innovative technology, new donations of high-quality seeds, and a farmer safety campaign.
In an effort to support Ukrainian farmers in their productivity and adaptation, Bayer plans to increase access to its leading digital farming platform Climate FieldView. Climate FieldView uses cutting-edge technology to increase productivity, optimize the use of both fertilizer and pesticides, reduce manual work, and achieve better water management. This is even more important at a time when Ukraine’s farmers face severe cash and resource constraints. To manage this transformation and implementation, Bayer will support dozens of technician jobs as well as identify grant-funding for farmers to purchase equipment and to utilize the platform effectively.
Bayer will also continue to provide free of cost seeds, distributed by AGRI-Ukraine, building on the 25,000 households who received seeds this past year – alleviating food insecurity, bolstering nutrition, and providing a source of income for Ukrainians.
Bayer will donate 1,700 bags of Oil Seed Rape and a sizable vegetable seed donation for the Spring sowing season including Onions, Cabbage, Tomato, Carrot, Cucumber, Squash, Pepper, and Eggplant.
In concert with the above two investments, Bayer is launching its War-related Hazards on Agricultural Lands Campaign. As a follow up to its purchase of a 825,000-Euro large-size mechanical mine clearance machine last year, Bayer is working with Fondation Suisse de Déminage (FSD) to educate farmers on the dangers of landmines and other hazards and promote safety on agricultural land affected by Putin’s brutal war.
This announcement builds on the partnership between USAID AGRI-Ukraine and Bayer, initiated in October 2022, to help support Ukrainian farmers and address the global food security crisis. USAID launched AGRI-Ukraine to bolster Ukrainian agricultural production and exports and to help alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine.
Launched in July 2022, [AGRI-Ukraine has invested $350 million] to reach more than 30 percent of Ukraine’s registered farmers with critical inputs like seeds and fertilizer, agricultural and financial services, and storage. Thanks to USAID support, farmers have been able to pack and store 843,268 metric tons of grain, and more than 600 farmers have accessed almost $49.8 million in desperately-needed bridge-financing. The Agency has also enabled credit unions to extend more than $1.4 million in loans to over 600 micro and small agricultural producers.
For more information on AGRI-Ukraine and how to partner with USAID to support Ukraine’s agriculture sector, visit the AGRI-Ukraine website: www.usaid.gov/ukraine/agriculture-resilience-initiative-agri-ukraine
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2022, the Group employed around 101,000 people and had sales of 50.7 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 6.2 billion euros.