Food and Agricultural Organization
Concerning humanitarian crisis and the importance of agriculture
The war in Ukraine has pushed 15.7 million people to be in need of humanitarian assistance and forced massive population displacement. Over 5.1 million people have fled the country, and an estimated 7.7 million are internally displaced.
The destruction of or damage to agricultural infrastructure and markets, and the disruption of food supply chains is threatening the food security of already vulnerable populations. Agriculture-based livelihoods, a key source of income for 12.6 million people (30 percent of the population) who live in rural areas of Ukraine, are severely impacted by the war. Smallholder producers play a critical role in contributing to the country’s food security, in particular through the production of potatoes, fruits, vegetables and dairy.
While many are fleeing their communities and/or the country, a significant proportion of the population is likely to stay, facing extreme challenges and thus requiring multisectoral humanitarian assistance. The coming months are a critical period for producers. In mid-February/beginning of March, farmers would typically prepare lands for vegetable production, with sowing expected from mid-March through mid-May to harvest between July and mid-September. Land preparation and sowing for grains, including spring barley, maize and sunflower also generally take place between February and May, with harvests expected in July/August for spring barley and September/October for maize and sunflower. Ukraine’s farmers planted the winter wheat in September–October 2021, which will be harvested in June-July 2022.
FAO is scaling up its response
FAO’s 93 national and international staff working on the ground in Ukraine are redirecting their priorities from development programming to supporting the emergency response and creating a conducive environment for recovery. While FAO’s programme in Ukraine is largely development-focused, FAO has been operating in the conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine since 2015, including providing cash-based assistance. FAO has the necessary technical and operational capacities in place to scale up humanitarian interventions across Ukraine, including agronomists, economists, experts in livestock, fisheries, forestry, cash and other technical areas, including procurement officers, security officers, and others.
Under its revised Rapid Response Plan, FAO urgently requires USD 115.4 million to assist 979 320 people, including vulnerable men and women farmers, smallholder producers and owners of medium-sized farms. The plan aims to (i) maintain critical food production systems, (ii) support agri-food supply chains, value chains and markets, and (iii) ensure accurate analysis of evolving food security conditions and needs. Key emergency agricultural interventions and immediate cash transfers will be delivered to help sustain lives and livelihoods amid the escalating countrywide crisis. Depending on the local conditions, vulnerable households will receive cash, agricultural inputs or a combination of both (cash+).
In-line with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and in response to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine, FAO has declared an internal Level 3 emergency that ensures corporate-wide efforts in responding to the immediate needs of Ukrainians. Within this framework, FAO has released an allocation on a no-regrets basis through the Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities to facilitate immediate scale-up and procurement actions. The allocation will also be used to support needs assessment in-country to better understand the impact of the evolving situation on agricultural livelihoods and inform FAO’s response plan.
Under the plan, with funds received to date, FAO is now reaching 71 000 people in the east, centre-west and south as well communities hosting internally displaced people in the west with a variety of inputs, including vegetable and potato production packages as well as spring cereal seed to bolster food availability and access. Additionally, with current funding, FAO can provide 5 000 households with cash assistance.
FAO has developed a two-tier monitoring approach using remote technology given operational realities. The first, focused on administrative (rayon) level is of a short questionnaire conducted regularly to gain an accurate picture of the status of supply chains for agricultural inputs, input prices, market functioning, etc. The second tier is a household-level questionnaire focusing on internally displaced and host communities.
