Working visit to Lviv
On March 21 and 22, the agricultural counsellor made a working visit to Lviv. In the framework of Agroport Lviv she participated in a panel discussion on Sustainable Development Goals and on organic clusters. Also, together with the honorary consul and colleagues from the EU visits were made to a bear sanctuary and Shuvar wholesale market where also various products from the EU can be found.
Agroport Lviv Panel discussions
Within the framework of Agroport Lviv, the agricultural counsellor participated in 2 panel discussions.
The first panel discussion, with participation of Acting Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food ms Trofimtseva, was devoted to Sustainable Development Goals. The national baseline report on SDG's of Ukraine can be found here
During the panel discussion from the side of the Netherlands the vision of the Dutch minister of Agriculture on circular agriculture was highlighted. For Ukraine this is mainly relevant when it comes to sustainable sourcing of raw materials.
The second panel discussion was devoted to organic clusters and sharing international experience. The Netherlands is supporting the development of a register for organic seeds and recently supported a study tour in this topic to the Netherlands for Ukrainian stakeholders. Other examples are the support for AgriFoodMBA with an international module at Wageningen UR as well as the approach taken by Dutch companies when entering the Ukrainian market. Examples are the Dutch Ukrainian Dairy Centre, PIB FoodTechLink and PIB bio-energy.
Shuvar wholesale market in Lviv, farmers market
Shuvar is the largest wholesale market of agricultural produce in western Ukraine. The area of the market is 20 ha and more than 30.000 products are for sale. Besides the area where sales are being done from the car, the zone of wholesale and retail trade is on the total area of 31 thousand m2 with specialized terminals: "Meat and meat products", "Fish and seafood", "Vegetables and fruits" and "Horeca Center, Flower Market, Grocery and related products."
Due to proximity to the border of the European Union, Shuvar is importing and exporting as well agricultural products from and to the EU. On sale are for example Dutch flowers and Dutch cheese. For more information and contact details please look at the website https://shuvar.com/about_us
Bear sanctuary DOMAZHYR
Swiss NGO Four Paws established the bear sanctuary Domazhyr in 2016, close to Lviv. At the moment 11 brown bears are being taken care of, most of them were abused as baiting bears, kept in small cages next to restaurants to attract customers, or held illegally in other inadequate conditions. The bear sanctuary is now also open for visitors who can take a guided tour around the 20 hectares which has the aim to create space for 30 bears who are now kept in conditions which are not appropriate. At the sanctuary there is also space for educational purposes such as visits from school children to learn more about these animals.
More information can be found on the website https://www.four-paws.org/campaigns-topics/sanctuaries/bear-sanctuary-domazhyr
or in this highly recommended article about the sanctuary by Ukrainer https://ukrainer.net/domazhyr-bears-rescued-from-humans/
Green tourism; battlefield Berestechko
In the 17th century one of the largest battles on European land took place between the Ukrainian Cossacks (led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky), with support of the Crimean Tatar allies against a Polish army. The battle was the only battle that was lost in a range of battles between the Cossacks and Polish army, but has turned into a symbol for Ukrainian patriotism. Since the land has not been used for a long time, many findings were done on site which are now kept in the small museum in Berestechko. There are also two churches, connected by each other through a underground tunnel in which a shrine has been made for the fallen. Nearby you can visit the pit where according to the legend the last Cossack refused to be absolved by the Polish and he gave his life.
Berestechko battlefield is about 1,5 hours away from Lviv, and can also be visited from for example Lutsk.