Ukraine Grain Storage and Marketing Cooperative Project

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2019) include: (1) two new grain farmers cooperatives one in Dnipropetrovsk (Zernovyi - 72 members of which 21% were women) and one in Kirovograd (ZernoBUNK - 24 members of which 13% were women) oblasts are well established and operate sustainably as democratic organizations applying world recognized cooperative principles and both are self-sustainable financially their members benefited from training on cooperative management and production practices that are gender sensitive and environmentally sound; (2) the first modern and competitive cooperative grain elevator was built in Vasylkivka (Dnipropetrovsk region) and implemented with a business model to ensure its expansion and replicability; (3) two revolving seed funds (165 loans distributed to 96 grain farmers-members of which 115 loans were reimbursed) and two gender funds (five loans were distributed) were established and are split among the two cooperatives seeding funds lent to farmers who previously had no access to credit and who were not using agronomy services to advise them the funds enabled the farmers to collectively buy agricultural inputs at significantly discounted prices while their coops earn enough to pay for the services of professional agronomists; (4) attended by 1 200 student 20 successful modified academic courses on cooperative training were developed introduced and institutionalized in the curriculum of the Dnipropetrovsk Agrarian University and the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv; (5) the Cooperative academy was established within the structure of the Dnipropetrovsk Agrarian Advisory Service for the benefit of all agricultural cooperatives and rural organizations of Ukraine; and (6) through local and Canadian expert contributions direct support to Ukrainian legislative reform on cooperatives and family farms was provided: the new draft Law on agricultural service cooperatives in collabo