The Department of Agriculture will donate €750,000 to support 1,000 farmers in Ukraine through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The donation will fund poultry production kits of 30 one-day-old chicks as well as animal feed and supplements for highly vulnerable smallholder farmers and households in rural areas at the front line of the ongoing war.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue met with the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko before announcing the funding on Wednesday.

Ambassador Gerasko described the donation as “another demonstration of Ireland’s unwavering stance with Ukraine” and thanked Irish farmers for their ongoing support.

United Nations

The United Nations project will be overseen by the FAO in Kyiv, whose head of office Pierre Vauthier said: “During our visits to frontline communities, we were impressed and moved by the resilience of the people we encountered, many of whom had been forced to stop farming and raising livestock because of the current situation.

“With this contribution from Ireland, highly impacted and vulnerable households in frontline oblasts will be supported with poultry production kits consisting of 30 one-day-old chicks as well as animal feed and supplements.

“This support will enable rural families to resume production for their own household consumption and, in doing so, to meet their immediate food needs.”

Announcing the funding support, Minister McConalogue said Ireland and Ukraine share many rural and agricultural similarities, with farming “playing a key role of our economies and societies”.

“This FAO project will support efforts to build back agricultural capacity and to build up resilience of farms and households impacted most by the illegal Russian war in Ukraine,” he said.