Ukraine has long been famous for its fertile lands and hard-working people. Today, the country must defend its people, its borders, and its fields daily against the aggressor. Despite numerous difficulties and the risks of the wartime, Ukrainians continue bravely cultivating their lands, improve agricultural methods, introduce new technologies and use modern equipment to increase productivity and sustainability of their businesses.

Farms, the core of the agroindustry, are now more than ever vital to the food security of the people. Myron Sushytskyi runs the farm “Nove Zhyttia 2019” in the village of Panasivka in the Zhytomyr region, where he has been growing cereals, legumes and oilseeds on 132 hectares of land for six years. When he discovered the advantages of the EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line, the farmer took a EUR 77,465 of loan from the partner “Ukrgasbank” under the facility and invested in a New Holland T6070 wheeled tractor. This powerful and efficient equipment saves 122.62 GJ of energy and reduces CO₂ emissions by 8.91 tonnes annually in comparison to the old tractor.

But it didn’t stop there. Myron Sushytskyi is a war veteran, and all his employees are either former combatants or persons with disabilities stemming from the war. He was therefore eligible for an additional investment incentive funded by the European Union under the “Veterans and War-Affected Persons Reintegration Window” (VRW) initiative. Through the combination of the 10% investment incentive and an addition 15% VRW grant, the farmer received a total of 25% cashback on the loan amount, all funded by the European Union. According to Mr. Myron, supporting support veterans and war-affected persons by offering them employment is very important, as they have a huge potential for strengthening the country’s economy.

“Thanks to the loan with and the EU-funded investment incentive, we benefitted from significant cost savings, which enabled us to redirect the released funds towards business expansion”, Mr. Myron highlights. “The new tractor is used in almost all agricultural works throughout the year and has already proven to be a powerful and efficient helper”.