Five non-governmental organizations working in the field of agro-industrial complex have united in one effective tool - the Public Union "Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum" (UNAF) - a platform for discussion of common problems of agriculture and the development of a consolidated vision of their solution. The task of the organization - to communicate the common position of the agrarian sector to the authorities as the only voice, as well as to represent the Ukrainian agrarian sphere on the international arena.

The founders of the WAF were the public union "Agrarian Union of Ukraine", the All-Ukrainian public association "Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation", the Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club", Public Union "Ukrainian Agrarian Council" and The All-Ukrainian Association of Village and Village Councils. The presentation of the newly formed public union took place on December 13, 2017.

“We formalized a tool that essentially existed long ago. Now the Ukrainian National  Agrarian Forum is registered as a legal entity, a public union that brings together five agrarian associations under its roof, but is open until the entry of new members. We will defend the common position of agrarians in working with parliamentarians and members of the government, write relevant draft laws, propose amendments to the regulatory framework. We are ready to knock on all doors and protest if they do not hear us.” - said Maria Didukh, director of the Ukrainian National  Agrarian Forum. 

One of the first decisions of the UNAF is to sign with the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada a memorandum on the development and reform of the agricultural sector, which will consolidate the directions of development of the agro-industrial complex, in particular, positions on state support, factors of production, price regulation, and the like. According to the founders of the Ukrainian National  Agrarian Forum, such a document will serve as a tool to protect business from the adoption of laws and regulations harmful to its activities by parliamentarians.

As noted by the Deputy Chairman of the Public Union "Ukrainian Agrarian Council" - Mikhail Sokolov, the first paragraph of the memorandum is to amend the budget-2018 and the Tax Code, will cancel the destructive norms adopted on December 7. In particular, farmers will demand to repeal the amendment on the abolition of VAT refunds on oilseeds, which, if it enters into force, will lead to a direct loss of producers in the amount of UAH 10 billion. In addition, farmers will insist on maintaining the quasi-accumulation of VAT at the level of at least 4 billion UAH.

“We will invite political parliamentary parties to sign a memorandum in which we set forth the requirements of the agricultural sector for regulating agriculture and the necessary laws. We will inform all our participants, all agrarians that certain political forces have signed or not signed this document, they respectively agree or refuse to support the agrarian industry. Let the deputies themselves choose them for oligarchic conspiracies or for our agrarian sector to develop honestly and transparently. ” - said Mikhail Sokolov.

In addition, the plans of the UNAF to become an associate member of Copa-Cogeca - the union of farmers' unions and agricultural cooperatives of the EU, is the most powerful representative of the interests of European agrarians. The participants of the UNAF are convinced that the participation of Ukraine in such an organization will enhance the status of the Ukrainian agrarians in the European Union and will help in the implementation of the norms of European standards and approaches to production in our country.

As the head of the German-Ukrainian Agricultural Policy Dialogue, Volker Sasse, said, Germany fully shares these views of Ukrainian agrarians: “We have been supporting the project of creating an umbrella agricultural association for two years now. Such a joint organization will much better help to represent the common interests of the entire agricultural sector within the state and delegate them to the international level, for example, in the European Union or within the framework of Сopa Сogeca. And if every representative of the agrarian sector has its specific goals, then the new organization is created to protect common interests.”

Taras Vysotsky, General Director of the Association “Ukrainian Agribusiness Club”, noted that the Ukrainian National  Agrarian Forum will raise the protection of the interests of the agricultural sector to a new level at the national and international level: "This is a common world practice, when a country in international associations is represented by a united front. Historically, in our agriculture there are various segments of the sector representing different associations, but when necessary, we can come together to form a common position. The second goal of the creation of a UNAF is communication with the state. Formation of a single voice of the sector strengthens us and increases the chances of protecting the interests of farmers in the national and international level."

All five public organizations - co-founders are members of the board of the UNAF and have complete economic and financial independence. It is assumed that over time, the number of associations and business entities that will become part of the UNAF will increase, since the Union is free for new members to enter (the decision on admission to the  is made by a simple majority of the board members; registered on the territory of Ukraine or abroad).

By establishing UNAF, agricultural associations of Ukraine have created a powerful tool to defend the interests of agricultural producers in government, promote the productive and social development of participants, create a favorable legal framework for the agricultural sector and food industry, serve as a platform for sharing information and knowledge, facilitate the exit of members to foreign markets and the establishment of business foreign economic relations.

“So far this is only the first step, but I am deeply convinced that we must act as a single force, defending our interests at the regional and global level, because it is in uniting the efforts of the widest possible range of representatives of the agrarian sector our power and our competitive advantage,” concluded Director of the Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum, Maria Didukh.