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Between February 13 - 16, 2024, the organic community met again in Nuremberg (Germany) at the World's Leading Trade Fair for Organic Food. Regional, national and international stakeholders from the entire organic value chain gathered here to network and consolidate their joint vision for a more sustainable future.
AFC’s German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Farming (COA), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and running since 2016 and the Swiss-Ukrainian Quality Food Trade Program (QFTP), funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and running since 2004, were supporting Ukraine’s presence at BioFach 2024*, together with other projects.
This year’s support involved bringing together around 40 Ukrainian exporters as exhibitors in Ukrainian pavilions to the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Organic Food, assisting a high-level policy delegation from Ukraine and presenting the sector’s key actors at the BioFach Congress. “We are delighted that our support has helped so many companies from Ukraine to present their interesting organic products at Biofach this year.”, said Dr Stefan Dreesmann, head of the German project, and Tobias Eisenring, head of the Swiss project.”
Bringing Ukrainian exporters to BioFach is essential to promoting sustainable trade and creating more and better jobs by strengthening the business competitiveness and capacities of Ukrainian SMEs in the organic sector. By the end of 2022, Ukraine had a surface of certified organic land of 263’619 ha, 0.6% of the total agricultural land. In 2022, Ukraine exported 245’600 tons of goods with a total value of almost 219 million USD and became the third largest importing country to the EU. Therefore, the stability of the European organic market strongly depends on the reliability and strength of Ukrainian suppliers.
This year, the Biofach Congress hosted a high-level policy delegation from Ukraine with representatives from the Ukrainian parliament, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and State Institution ‘Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office’. During the fair, they networked with organic policymakers and experts from all over the world.“
Since 2023, the Ukrainian organic legislation has been fully implemented. Last year, with the support of international projects focused on technical assistance to Ukraine, important milestones were reached: the accreditation of Ukraine’s first organic certification body and the publication of two state registers of organic certification bodies and organic operators. Organic products labelled with Ukraine’s organic logo are already available in Ukraine. More than 160 organic operators are already certified according to the Ukrainian Organic Law. The alignment of Ukrainian law to the EU regulation is the main objective for 2024.
The long-standing collaboration between the Swiss and German projects since 2016, together with other partners, has supported Ukrainian public and private actors in strengthening Ukraine's organic sector. This support will continue, notwithstanding the war perpetrated by the Russian Federation.
SvoeKino, a film company from Ukraine, produced this impressive film directly in Ukraine in January 2024 on behalf of the project "German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Agriculture". A film about women in Ukraine - working in agriculture. In impressive images, the 8-minute film introduces several women who work in agriculture in Ukraine. Women from several parts of Ukraine. Women who, from their perspective, provide deep insights into the achievements and challenges of the organic sector in Ukraine under the current conditions of war. Strong women who give a lot of courage. The film was shown for the first time on 14 February 2024 as part of the event "At the front line - women in Ukraine are changing the world" at the BIOFACH/VIVANESS. The film can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oBtxVAiK1o
We would be greateful if this impressive film about the strenght of Ukranian women would reach many people inside and outside of Ukraine. Please share it.
For further information: German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Farming (COA), Dr Stefan Dreesmann, Tel 00 49 152 539 77 131, Stefan.Dreesmann [at] gopa-afc.de, http://www.coa-ukraine.com/en/
*In addition to QFTP and COA, the Ukrainian presence at BioFach 2024 is supported by the SECO funded project Organic Trade 4 Development in Eastern Europe (OT4D), the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), funded by the U.S. government via USAID, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Import Promotion Desk (IPD), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)