The gap between rural and urban areas in Ukraine has increased during the last decade. Migration from the countryside to the towns is still occurring. However, Ukraine has important natural resources of fertile agrarian land and forests. These resources are a key potential for future rural development. The main challenge of Ukraine is to find methods; how to use these resources in a sustainable way. Such methods should integrate the decentralised use of resources, legal protection of the different forms of land tenure and support for the balanced development of economic, social and ecological components.

• SDC supports the development of new practices in sustainable forest management in the Carpathian mountains. Due to Swiss experience in mountain forest silviculture, the exchange between foresters from Carpathia and Switzerland started in the 1990s. The project has been built on this long- standing partnership.
• SDC promotes the introduction of organic farming methods. Certified organic products have a good potential on Ukrainian domestic and European markets. Organic farming is a source for income generation and local economic development in the rural areas.
• SECO supports the introduction of organic certification and actively tries to create markets for organic products; if organic farmers cannot find markets, they will not continue their production.
• SDC also supports access to financial services in rural areas, to provide credits within the reach of small and family production and processing units in rural areas.

Projects at a glance (click on project for further information):

• FORZA (Swiss-Ukrainian Forest Development Project in Zakarpattya)
• Eco-Lan: Sustainable Land Use in Ukraine
• Organic Certification and Market Development in Ukraine (SECO financed)
• Access to Rural Financial Services in the Vinnitsa Region of Ukraine