Development of agricultural cooperatives and strengthening the role of Ukrainian farmers in the European market: the Committee on Agricultural and Land Policy met with the international project «HONOR»
13 February 2026, 14:06
On February 12th 2026 Oleksandr Haidu, the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agricultural and Land Policy, along with Oleksandr Starynets, the Head of the Committee Secretariat, held a meeting with Sophiia Burtak, the Director of Cooperative and Entrepreneurship Development at the HONOR Project, and Valerii Bondarchuk, the Manager of HONOR project, regarding issues on supporting a cooperation development during martial law and period of post-war recovery, increasing the efficiency of family farms, stimulating agricultural recycling and creating of an added value etc.
It was mentioned that HONOR (Harnessing Opportunities for Networks and Organizational Resilience) is a project of international technical support that is being implemented in Ukraine by Canadian organisation SOCODEVI and is funded by the Government of Canada. It is designed to last seven years (2025–2032) with a total budget of 20 million Canadian dollars (over 550 million hryvnias).
The project is partnered with Ukrainian professional organisations and covers several regions of Ukraine, working through the system of educational, institutional and consulting facilities.
During the meeting following issues were discussed: the current state normative legal support for agricultural cooperatives; the need and prospects for its improvement, taking into account international experience; the sustainability of the cooperative model in wartime; the role of cooperation for small agricultural businesses; opportunities for expanding access to state support and international technical assistance; Ukraine’s participation in the international cooperative community and promoting the entry of Ukrainian cooperative products into foreign markets.
Following the meeting, the Committee and the HONOR project agreed to further their partnership in creating legislative initiatives to form a supportive environment for the continuing development of agricultural cooperation in Ukraine.
Special attention was paid to strengthening the role of our farmers in the EU market. Representatives of the project, in the context of European integration processes, noted that the HONOR project is interested in creating laboratories to confirm the quality of agricultural products from small manufacturers.
It was also said that the implementation of the HONOR project will become an important assistance and experience for Ukrainian farmers in terms of cooperatives’ development, which is a guarantee of economic growth for local communities and a boost for the development of rural areas.