“Even in times of war, our cows want to be fed”. Ukrainian farmers tell their story | English

FiBL Focus

They help refugees, alleviate the population's famine or serve in the military: two organic producers from Ukraine tell what they experienced in these first months of the war and how they and their farms are doing today.

Even now, under the difficult conditions of war, Ukrainian farmers continue their work as best they can. In this interview, organic producers Yevhеnіi Honcharеnko from Molfar Eco and Andrii Nikolaiuk from Ethnoproduct talk about their life and work in a state of emergency.

Anastasiia Pivniuk from Ukraine, who works for a project managed by FiBL, conducted the interviews with the farmers via the Internet. She currently works from her home office in a village near Kyiv, where she moved from the Ukrainian capital with her family after the Russian full-scale invasion started. She does not want to leave Ukraine and her family.

Toralf Richter and Tobias Eisenring from FiBL Switzerland add some background information. FiBL has been promoting organic agriculture in Ukraine for 20 years, funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

In the background, Olga Romanyshyn helped to make this episode a reality. She is the Ukrainian communication and administration manager for the Quality Food Trade program (QFTP) which is managed by FiBL. She has fled to her sister in Munich. She lives and works there at the moment.

If you have any questions, suggestions or criticism, please contact us. Write us an email on [e-mail]. We look forward to hearing from you, your FiBL Focus Team.

Episode 15/FiBL Focus Talk/English
Guests: Yevhеnіi Honcharеnko from Molfar Eco; Andrii Nikolaiuk from Ethnoproduct; Anastasiia Pivniuk from QFTP; Tobias Eisenring and Toralf Richter from FiBL

Introduction: Anke Beermann, FiBL
Editor: Franziska Hämmerli, FiBL

Support for Ukraine:

· The organic sector of Ukraine needs support to survive. If you would like to help, you can find out how from the ‘Statement on the situation in the Ukrainian organic sector’

· If you would like to support the people in Ukraine, you can find more information here: FiBL – Update on FiBL’s work in Ukraine

FiBL Projects in Ukraine:

· QFTP – Quality Food Trade Program | Official site

· Organic Trade 4 Development in Eastern Europe (OT4D) | IFOAM - Organics International

· FiBL – Organic Certification and Organic Market Development in Ukraine (Phase 1)

· FiBL – Organic Market Development in Ukraine (Phase 2)

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FiBL Focus ist der Podcastkanal des FiBL Schweiz, einem der weltweit grössten Forschungsinstitute für biologischen Landbau.