The German government will transfer more than 700 generators to Ukraine to alleviate the energy crisis in the country, 41 of which will be given to food producers, in particular to support the production of bread, milk, livestock products and provide electricity to food storage warehouses.
According to a press release from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is involved in the distribution and delivery of generators in Ukraine, seven bakeries across the country have already received German generators rated 450-550 kW. This will be a timely and tangible support to restore critical food value chains and provide people with life-saving food.
The press release specifies that the day before LLC “Odessa bread-baking plant № 4” (Odessa) received one of the German generators, provided by the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) with the financial support of the German Foreign Office. Distribution of generators was made by FAO and Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
The company is located in Odessa, where the Russian military aggression at the beginning of 2023 created the most difficult situation with power supply in Ukraine. The enterprise faces constant problems in providing basic activities, as both scheduled and unscheduled power outages disrupt the technological process of baking bread, which also leads to significant financial losses.
“The company is completely dependent on an uninterrupted supply of electricity. We are pleased that thanks to the transfer of this generator we can support Ukrainians and ensure sustainable production of essential products – bread,” the FAO quoted Frank Müller, agricultural attaché of the German Embassy in Ukraine.
According to FAO, Odessa bakery is the largest producer of bakery products in the south of Ukraine and provides bread to more than 58% of the population of the Odessa region. The company employs 910 employees, producing over 100 tons of products daily. The plant’s products are sold in the Odessa, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, as well as in Kherson, where no other bakery is operating.
“We sincerely thank the FAO and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy for their assistance in providing our enterprise with a generator from the German government. This help is critically needed for our production. Now in Odessa the electricity is provided for two hours a day, so without this generator we would not be able to fulfill our tasks of bread production, to supply sufficient quantity of products to budget organizations of the city and region: schools, kindergartens, hospitals and sanatoriums”, – the FAO quotes the director of the plant Vitaliy Dobrovolskiy.
As it was reported, Germany on January 10 delivered the first 10 high-efficiency electric generators (capacity from 450 kW) to the warehouse in Ukraine, from where they are distributed among the food producers working in the regions suffered from the Russian invasion and also in the recently de-occupied territories.
In total, the German agency planned to transfer more than 700 generators to support the Ukrainian energy system. Of these, in January it planned to supply at least 25 generators to producers of foodstuffs such as bread, milk, livestock products, electricity for food storage facilities, etc.
