Annual Conference Bears Fruit for Farmers
The 3rd Annual Fruits and Vegetables Conference and Exhibition, sponsored by USAID’s Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP), was held in Kyiv on December 5-6. In addition to the development of business linkages, the conference has given impetus to development of a Fruits and Vegetables Farmers Association and a retailers association. The previous two conferences improved contacts between input suppliers, farmers, wholesalers and retailers.
“What this project has shown, and what all of your actions have proved is that a market approach to agriculture is the one that will generate the most growth,” said USAID Director Earl Gast in opening the conference. “We have a proven model of success, and what we hope is that this model, this market approach, can be applied to the other sub-sectors of the agriculture sector.”
AMP is a four-year, $7.5 million USAID-funded program implemented by Land O’Lakes International Development Division in partnership with its subcontractors – Informa Economics, Inc., Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), and the Ukrainian agricultural market information agency, APK-Inform, Ltd. The project’s mission is to stimulate increased rural incomes and employment by enabling small and medium family farmers to identify and meet market needs profitably by enhancing quality and production efficiency, pursuing joint marketing efforts, and adding increased value to their products.
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Petro Fedyna, head of "Agrodvir", a farmers cooperative in Lviv Oblast, and
an AMP client |
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