The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has published its Emergency and Early Recovery Response Plan for Ukraine for 2026–2028, outlining priority actions to protect agricultural livelihoods, restore productive capacity, and support the country’s agrifood sector. The plan aims to address the severe disruptions caused by the ongoing war, which has affected access to land and machinery, limited market opportunities, and created labour shortages while driving up production costs.
Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, emphasized the critical role of agriculture for food security, employment, and economic stability, noting that the plan invests in the resilience of rural families and the future of Ukraine’s food systems. Pressures are particularly severe in frontline regions, where agricultural infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and access to land is constrained by explosive remnants of war. These challenges have disrupted production cycles and weakened the sector’s capacity to operate beyond basic survival.
FAO’s plan takes an integrated, multi-year approach linking immediate agricultural assistance with early recovery and resilience-building interventions. It prioritizes safeguarding food production for vulnerable rural families and small-scale farmers, restoring productive assets, rehabilitating agricultural land, and strengthening pathways toward market-oriented and climate-resilient production. Shakhnoza Muminova, Head of FAO in Ukraine, highlighted that the plan bridges the gap between emergency response and recovery, ensuring predictable support to prevent deeper losses and sustain recovery efforts.
The plan is structured around three pillars: evidence and coordination, emergency agriculture, and early recovery. These pillars are designed to make assistance targeted, data-driven, and aligned with national priorities while supporting a gradual transition from humanitarian aid toward longer-term resilience. Special emphasis is placed on frontline regions, women and youth, internally displaced persons and returnees, and the rehabilitation of land affected by explosive hazards, all of which are crucial for restoring production, strengthening food security, and enabling safe economic activity in rural areas.
FAO’s active portfolio in Ukraine currently totals USD 25.9 million, with USD 24 million dedicated to emergency and early recovery activities. Additional resources are needed to expand coverage, prevent further erosion of productive capacity, and ensure agriculture continues to support recovery and long-term development. Since 2022, FAO has assisted over 300,000 rural families and nearly 17,000 small-scale agrifood enterprises through the provision of seeds, animal feed, poultry kits, grain storage solutions, generators, irrigation systems, cash and vouchers, and matching grants, helping communities maintain food production and livelihoods despite ongoing hostilities.
Through satellite analysis of 2.37 million hectares, FAO identified over one million craters and prioritized 32,000 hectares for mine action interventions. To date, farmers and rural families cultivating more than 22,000 hectares have received targeted support to resume agricultural activities and rebuild their livelihoods. The Emergency and Early Recovery Response Plan for Ukraine 2026–2028 provides a structured framework to scale up these actions in response to ongoing needs caused by the war.
