Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership to manage FARM (04/13/03)

Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership to manage FARM

Vasyl Pawlowsky
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The Canadian government announced on March 18 that it would fund a five-year agricultural reform project in Ukraine through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

CIDA will contribute $6 million (Canadian) to establish the Facility for Agricultural Reform and Modernization, or FARM, the largest agricultural development project that the Canadian government has undertaken in Ukraine.

Ray D. Pagthagan, minister of veterans affairs and secretary of state (science, research and development), made the announcement on behalf of Minister of International Development Susan Whelan. Mr. Pagthagan, a member of Parliament for Winnipeg North-St. Paul, is seen as a parliamentarian friendly to the Ukrainian community. He has supported numerous issues that relate to the Ukrainian community in Canada.

The $6 million that Ukraine will receive has been allocated to a Manitoba-Saskatchewan-Alberta government partnership in order to improve agricultural development in Ukraine. In addition, the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership, STEP, has contributed $100,000, while the provincial partnership is to contribute $3 million. Together Ukraine will receive $9.1 (Canadian) million for agricultural reforms.

STEP has been chosen to manage the five-year FARM program. The Weekly spoke to Guy Innes, the director of international projects for STEP, regarding this new program. Although STEP is a relatively new organization formed in 1996, Mr. Innes underscored that Saskatchewan has a long history of working with Ukraine. "In fact, the first international agreement was signed between the government of Saskatchewan and Ukraine back in 1988," said Mr. Innes.

STEP has really been involved in only one major project in Ukraine, the Canada/Ukraine Beef and Forage Development Project, which had a budget of $5 million and wrapped up last year. In fact the technologies and know-how brought to Ukraine by STEP are very suited for Ukraine due to a number of geographic factors, which include similarity of soil types, climate and the success of technologies used under those conditions that can be implemented in certain regions of Ukraine.

Mr. Innes said that the program would be focused in four oblasts: Rivne, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy. "Though this doesn't mean that all Ukrainian farmers will not have the opportunity to benefit," Mr. Innes added. "The program has two components, both a proactive one and a reactive one," he continued, explaining that the proactive component is based on three pillars: development of civil society, agricultural development and the development of extension services.

"It is through the extension services that all Ukrainian farmers will gain, as the extension services will not only partner Canadian know-how with the farmers, but also the know-how and research being done at the academic level in Ukraine, as well as the use of new technologies," he said.

"The reactive component allows all farmers, private agricultural companies, or organizations to participate," noted Mr. Innes. He explained that there would be grant money available for the Ukrainian side. However, the criteria to obtain these funds is not only transparent, but a grading system for all the projects that are submitted. In addition, these projects would be undertaken in partnership with Canadian organizations.

"The most important aspect of a grantee receiving a grant to conduct their project, is that they have to show that there will be multiple beneficiaries," said Mr. Innes.

With a number of organizations in the diaspora having experienced cases where results of the monies provided for various projects and the results of these projects to be undeterminable, or unknown, The Weekly asked Mr. Innes about the management of such a long-term project where so much money is involved. "All of our projects at all levels will be managed by the principle of Results-Based Management, where every activity has to have a result," he said. He explained that doing a seminar or workshop does not cut the criteria for something that is fundable under such management principles, as you have to clearly see the results of an activity that is being undertaken.

With the Canadian contribution totaling about $9.1 million over the duration of the project, "We cannot underestimate the actual size of this project, as there is also of substantial amount being contributed from the Ukrainian side as well," emphasized Mr. Innes.

Mr. Innes said all the monies going into the project have a ripple effect, and clear benefits and practicality. "Agriculture is very important to Ukraine, and if more farmers benefit, it can not only be good for Ukraine, but for Canada as well," added Mr. Innes. "Last year alone, Canada exported nearly $10 million worth of agricultural machinery to Ukraine."

Clearly, as the agricultural market develops, the investment of technical assistance to Ukraine could not only prove to be a good thing for Ukraine, but also for Canada.

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