UN, Canada to give Ukraine USD 40 million for new grain storage facilities with capacity for 2.4 million

Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine shared the news. 

According to the Ministry, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations together with Canada started a new $40 million project to solve the problem of shortage of grain warehouses in Ukraine.

"This initiative will allow the storage of an additional 2.4 million tons of grain in 2022-2023, along with the appropriate technical support and equipment," the message says.

As noted by the Ministry, this project will complement the assistance in the amount of $17 million, which was provided by Japan to ensure the storage of 1 million tons of Ukrainian grain.

The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will finance FAO's purchase of equipment for temporary and permanent grain storage in 15 regions of Ukraine, including polyethylene sleeves for grain storage, loading and unloading equipment and long-term modular storage facilities.

"In this season, with the beginning of the collection of winter crops in July and spring - a little later in the year, up to 51.1 million tons of grain are expected to be collected in Ukraine. Out of the total capacity of grain warehouses of 75 million tons, 14% of warehouses are damaged or destroyed, 10% are on the territory occupied by Russia, and about 30% remain filled with 22 million tons of last year's harvest, ready for export," the Ministry of Agrarian Policy writes.

It is also reported that the newly developed grain storage support strategy aims to support the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure 25% of grain storage (4.07 million tons of grain) from the national storage deficit of 16 million tons in 2022-2023.

"Given this year's unprecedented crop storage challenges, large-scale innovative solutions are needed. For this reason, support to the sector will remain in demand, probably until 2023... FAO is responding quickly to this situation, taking a long-term perspective and seeking to invest in long-term solutions that are based  on the sectoral potential, in coordination with the Government at the national and local levels," said the head of the FAO office in Ukraine, Pierre Vauthier.

In addition, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, FAO will purchase laboratory equipment worth up to $2 million to support 6 strategic laboratories for animal disease detection testing.