"It is extremely important that Ukrainian companies continue to provide commodity loans to farmers in the conditions of war"

Vitaliy Bondar, deputy head of the family farm "Simya" by first education, is an engineer. At one time, he started in the field of sales of seed material and crop protection products.

Since 2014, Vitaly and his brother started working on the land. "Few people understood how to use certain crop protection products. And since I had the opportunity to purchase all this, we began to experiment on small plots, in our field. Eventually, it was possible that we did quite well thanks to the fact that we learned the technologies," shares the head of the farm.

In 2020, the "Family" farm, which was founded by the mother of the Bondar brothers, was revived. Anatoliy Bondar is the current head of the farm. For more productive work, they actually shared areas of responsibility with their brother. Vitaliy, who by that time had already completed his master's degree at the agricultural university, took on agronomy, and his brother Anatoliy - work with technology. "We decided to immediately work on new technologies, purchased new imported equipment, which would have a large safety margin. Today, we have our own tractor, harvester, wide-grip units on 200 hectares," Vitaly explains.

He explains the need to work on his own equipment by the fact that "one day feeds a year" for a small farmer, and it is impossible to predict this day and order someone else's equipment on time: "Small farms must have their own equipment to be profitable. Thanks to this, small farmers have the opportunity to work more technologically and get better harvests."

Today, the family farm grows corn, wheat, and sunflower. Since 2020, the brothers have started sowing rapeseed, and this year they plan to sow soybeans for the first time.

Of course, the agricultural economy managed to implement all these ambitious plans thanks to the credit system. "If it weren't for lending, we probably would have closed in 2014. We started taking out the first loan when we didn't even have an account and all the documents," Vitaly remembers.

With the start of a full-scale war, farming life has undergone significant changes, from the fact that you can collect rocket fragments in the fields, to the taken lifes of friends, classmates and fellow villagers. And because of the war, farmers are forced to go defend the country, and now seniors are increasingly applying for work in agriculture. Of course, due to the uncertainty of grain prices, farmers are in a difficult situation with money. That is why in 2024 "Simya" received a commodity loan under the project "Farmer, Loan for you" from the company "Agro Arena", which, with the support of the USAID’s Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO), provides commodity lending to micro, small and medium producers. The farm purchased corn and sunflower seeds, and plans to use mineral fertilizers.

"It is very important that Ukrainian companies continue to lend to farmers during the war, and credit programs are supplemented with new products. Today, getting fertilizers on credit without pledge and with a minimal package of documents is a real help for the farmer," "Simya" is convinced.


When asked about his plans for the future, Vitaly answered: "To sow and grow. Help the army. Win the war."

To become a participant in the commodity lending project "Farmer, loan for you", submit an application on the website or call the hotline number 0-800-307-001. All details are on the website: www:agro-arena.com.ua.