An agricultural cluster in Khmelnytsky region could be created on the basis of 16 enterprises of the First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative.
“We have 16 enterprises in Khmelnytsky region. On their basis we will make a cluster that will allow a small farmer with 200-300 hectares to have his elevator, a grain drier and an approaching road for a car. We are now facing the issue of building and investing in elevators, wagons and traction,” Executive Director of the First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative Oleksandr Buyukli said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, only 2% of agricultural products are sold through cooperatives in Ukraine, so there is a great potential for uniting and developing cooperatives.
In December 2017, the First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative held a meeting with members of the cooperative, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Rabobank.
“The First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative is actively cooperating with the EBRD, as they provide not only important support at the level of specialists, but also technical support for meetings and fundraising. The EBRD and Rabobank see great potential in the development of cooperatives,” the cooperative head said.
He said that the EBRD is preparing a number of projects for the cooperative to process soybeans, wheat and sunflower.
The First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative was founded on March 23, 2017. The cooperative includes 61 agricultural enterprises with a land bank of about 180,000 hectares in 10 regions of Ukraine.
For eight months in 2017 PUSK realized about 90 thousand tons of grain and bought about 20 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers.
In January-August 2017, the cooperative sold around 90,000 tonnes of grain and bought around 20,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers.
