• 1 in 5 people in Ukraine live below the poverty line
• Poverty gap between rural and urban populations due to unbalanced economic growth
• Underemployment, in part due to subsistence agriculture

Crimea and Zaporizhzhia are two of the most economically challenged regions of Ukraine. Small farmers need access to better markets, so they don’t have to sell produce in parking lots. They need modern greenhouses to lengthen the growing season, so everyone’s produce doesn’t ripen at the same time. They need cold storage to keep produce fresh post-harvest. They need seeds and plants to diversify crops, so not every farmer is selling the same thing.

Hardworking men and women are getting the tools, training and opportunity they need through MEDA’s Ukraine Horticulture Development Project (UHDP). In just one year, farmers in the project have seen incomes rise 19% by applying what they have learned. Their crops of greenhouse vegetables, table grapes and berries are producing positive yields and revenues.

Origins: MEDA opened an office in Ukraine in 2008 to work with small farmers in Crimea and Zaporiska regions who were struggling to eke out a living on small parcels of land created from the old Soviet collective farms during privatization. UHDP aims to enable Ukrainian individuals, organizations, and public and private institutions to sustainably support and promote a thriving and equitable horticulture subsector with full participation of smallholder farmers including women, men and marginalized communities. MEDA also founded and continues to provide oversight to Agro Capital Management (ACM), a local micro-finance facility which provides innovative financial packages for cold-storage units, greenhouses and horticulture.