Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that USAID's Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) is expanding its partnership with Bayer. Bayer will provide an additional $15.5 million investment in Ukraine for innovative technology, new donation of high-quality seeds, and a farmer safety campaign.
To support Ukrainian farmers who continue to suffer the effects of Russia's full-scale invasion, including the Kremlin's recent withdrawal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Bayer plans to increase access to its leading digital farming platform, Climate FieldView. This platform uses cutting-edge technology to increase productivity and also optimize the use of 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. Bayer will support dozens of new technician jobs inside Ukraine, and identify grant-funding for farmers to purchase equipment and utilize the platform effectively.
Bayer will continue to provide donated seeds in Ukraine for farmers in need, distributed by AGRI-Ukraine, building on the distribution of vegetable seeds for thousands of home gardens this past year - alleviating food insecurity, bolstering nutrition, and providing a source of income for Ukrainians. Bayer will donate 1,700 bags of rapeseed and vegetable seeds, including onion, cabbage, tomato, carrot, cucumber, squash, pepper, and eggplant for the spring sowing season.
Bayer is also launching its War-Related Hazards on Agricultural Lands Campaign. As a follow up to its purchase of a large-size mechanical mine clearance machine valued at more than $900,000 last year, Bayer is working with Fondation Suisse de Déminage (FSD) to educate Ukrainian 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 started with $100 million in USAID funding and leveraged over $250 million from partners. With those initial funds, AGRI-Ukraine has reached more than 30 percent of Ukraine's registered farmers with seeds and fertilizer, agricultural and financial services, and storage. Thanks to USAID support, Ukrainian 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. AGRI-Ukraine has also enabled credit unions to extend more than $1.4 million in loans to over 600 micro and small Ukrainian agricultural producers. Today, USAID announced it will be investing an additional $250 million into AGRI-Ukraine, taking the U.S. investment to $350 million. USAID is also seeking an additional $250 million in partner support, which would bring the investment to more than half a billion with partner leverage. This new Bayer investment is the first $15 million toward the new partner support goal.
