On March 7, the European Сора-Соgeca Association announced the status of a partner organization to the Ukrainian Agrarian Forum (UAF), which includes the leading agrarian associations of Ukraine: the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, and the UAC, Ukrainian Association of Communities, Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine and Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation. This was reported in an official letter.
Obtaining this status means not only integration into the European agrarian community, but also providing opportunities for joint cooperation in preventing the global food crisis in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Thus, according to the latest Kyiv School of Economics analysis, Russia's invasion of Ukraine could threaten global food security and starve hundreds of millions around the world. Experts emphasize that more than 400 million people worldwide depend on grain supplies from Ukraine. Accordingly, the war in Ukraine poses a challenge to global food security, which is particularly acute today in the Middle East and North Africa.
To prevent this threat, the European Copa-Cogeca farmers' association has expressed its readiness to support the domestic agricultural sector and help to end the war in Ukraine. In the context of this support, the UAF has been granted the status of Copa-Cogeca partner organization, which enables Ukrainian farmers to work together with the European community to ensure the world's food security.
Today, the Ukrainian agrarian community is stronger than ever, but the daily presence of the Russian aggressor on our land not only costs the lives of Ukrainians, but also threatens the hunger of hundreds millions of people around the world. The food crisis has already begun: according to the UN FAO, world food prices have reached a 10-year record in 2021 and are growing rapidly as the war unfolds. Fears of huge economic losses and hunger riots are a new reality.
"Today, Russia is not just an enemy of Ukraine, but an enemy and threat to the entire civilized world. This must be understood by the international community. So, without exaggeration, nowadays Ukraine is defending the whole Europe. If in peacetime we are competitors with Europe in some areas, today we are jointly responsible for food security in the world,” said Maria Didukh, Director of the UAF.
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Copa-Cogeca is a union of two large-scale agricultural organizations, COPA and COGECA, which is one of the strongest groups representing European farmers' interests in the common agricultural policy and other policy areas related to farmers and agricultural cooperatives, such as security food, animal health and welfare, plant health, environment, research and innovation, trade.
Wednesday, 9 March 2022