IRELAND IS TO provide €450,000 in funding to a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) project supporting potato farming in Ukraine.

The project will involve the transport of 500 tonnes of certified seed potatoes to Ukraine.

FAO Ukraine will distribute these seed potatoes to 10,000 highly vulnerable small-holder farmers in rural areas at the frontline in eastern and southern Ukraine. Each farmer will receive 50kg of seed.

Announcing the funding support, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said: “Ireland and Ukraine share many similarities, particularly the huge importance of agriculture has both economical and socially.

“I am delighted that my Department’s international cooperation funding can support this project to support small-holder farmers in potato production, complementing the supports for smallholder poultry production in Ukraine funded by the Government and my Department last year.”

The seed potatoes have been grown in the Netherlands and France by growers for Irish company IPM Potato Ltd. The seed potato varieties have been cultivated especially for agro-ecological conditions in Ukraine.

McConalogue added: “In addition to saving 10% of the harvest as seed potatoes for the next season, this volume of quality seed potatoes has the potential to produce up to 7,000 tonnes of ware potatoes. This will yield the average annual consumption of potatoes for 45,000 – 50,000 people per year.

“This FAO project will support efforts to build back agricultural capacity and to assist rural families to resume production for their own household consumption and, in doing so, to meet their immediate food needs.”

Ukraine is the one of the top potato producers in the world and the bulk of its production is small-holder farmer based. Since the outbreak of war, the normal structures of seed potato supply in Ukraine have been disrupted and the imports of certified seed input stocks has been severely impacted.