On 16 June, Kyiv hosted a meeting of the Sounding Board of the Organic Component of the Swiss-Ukrainian Programme “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” (QFTP). The event aimed to determine key priorities for supporting the sector in the upcoming programme year (July 2026 – June 2027).
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, beneficiaries, recipients, and partners of the programme, organic producers, and the QFTP team. The discussion focused on two key themes: the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the expansion of the domestic organic market.
In his welcoming remarks, Marco Kräuchi, Programme Manager at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO, Switzerland), commended the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the agricultural sector as a whole. He emphasised that Switzerland has continuously supported Ukraine since the 1990s, both before and during the war, and will certainly remain after it ends. Proper support for the organic sector has been ongoing for over 20 years, demonstrating real positive impact and significant results. Mr Kräuchi also confirmed Switzerland’s intention to extend the QFTP programme in the organic and dairy sectors for another two years.
In his opening remarks, Igor Kravchenko, Local Program Manager of QFTP, summarised the results of the organic component’s work from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. He highlighted achievements in harmonising Ukrainian legislation with EU requirements, contributions to business environment development, export promotion, and the expansion of the domestic organic market, while also outlining new priorities for QFTP’s activities.
During the first part of the meeting, partners presented their organisations, shared current performance results, and highlighted achievements in implementing joint projects and initiatives in cooperation with QFTP.
Presentations were delivered by Sergiy Galashevskyy, General Manager of the certification body Organic Standard LLC; Olena Deineko, Chair of the Board of the Organic Initiative Public Association; Kateryna Shor, project manager at the international charitable organisation ‘Information Center ’Green Dossier’, coordinator of the OrganicInfo.ua information portal; Vitaliy Vorontsov, Chair of the Board of the Green AgroSolutions Public Association. Their presentations focused on expert and information support, as well as on strengthening the position of Ukrainian producers in the domestic market.
A dedicated session of the event was focused on developing public procurement of organic products through the Prozorro Market electronic catalogue. Danylo Poshtar, Head of the Prozorro Market e-catalogue Administration Department, ‘Professional Procurement’ State Agency, outlined the prospects and challenges of integrating organic products into the public procurement system. Primary attention was given to creating an effective verification mechanism for organic operators’ certificates, technical synchronisation with the State Standards of Ukraine (DSTU) requirements, and justifying the higher cost of organic goods under the strict requirement for maximum budgetary savings. Participants concluded that the best solution to establish a successful case study would be to launch a pilot project supplying organic products to educational institutions, with subsequent nationwide scaling of the experience.
During the Q&A session, attendees exchanged practical proposals regarding Prozorro Market. Anna Tovkay, Head of the Procurement Advisory Section, Public Procurement Professionalisation Division, Public Procurement Department, Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, and Myroslava Bzhestovska, Chief Specialist of the State Policy Division for Organic Production, Department of State Policy on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine , presented the French experience of integrating organic products into the procurement system and the possibilities for its adaptation in Ukraine.
Following the discussions, participants identified the key priorities for the further work of the QFTP programme, aimed at:
- strengthening the competitiveness of organic products in the domestic market,
- improving and aligning Ukraine’s organic legislation,
- integrating organic products into the public procurement system.
Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, delivered the concluding remarks of the Sounding Board. In his speech, he noted that the Ukrainian organic sector is currently in the reliable hands of a strong community of professionals, and the state’s task is to act as a partner to this community, supporting its initiatives and helping to implement the solutions developed. He stressed that it is particularly important today to talk about the production of higher value added organic products through the development of processing, building strong brands, and promoting Ukrainian organic products on both domestic and international markets. Mr Vysotskyi assured that they are ready to jointly work on all recommendations developed by the Sounding Board, and expressed special thanks to the Swiss partners for their systemic, long-standing, and consistent international support of the Ukrainian organic sector, which allows it to move forward and achieve new results even under today’s challenging conditions.
Summing up the results of the meeting, Andriy Talama, Director of the State Institution ‘Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office’, thanked the audience for an engaging and professional discussion, noting the demand and effectiveness of the tools offered by the Office, and confirmed readiness for further active cooperation with market participants. Furthermore, he expressed deep gratitude to Switzerland for its long-standing systemic support of Ukrainian entrepreneurship and exports, and for its fruitful partnership with the QFTP programme.
In his closing speech, Viktor Shutkevych, Senior National Program Officer at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine, highlighted the uniqueness of the QFTP Sounding Board as an effective platform for joint planning, noting the evolution of support for the organic sector from the first steps of certification to the development of domestic demand and public procurement. He emphasised that following the extension of the programme from July, QFTP will focus on practical, in-depth work on domestic market over the next two years.
Only through joint efforts we can develop Ukraine’s organic sector. Over the coming years, we will direct all our experience, knowledge, and resources toward close cooperation with the market participants to strengthen economic resilience and unlock new opportunities for Ukrainian organic producers.
The Swiss-Ukrainian Programme “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” (QFTP) is funded by Switzerland and implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland).
