agriculture

The story of the defaulted company Mriya Agro Holding shows what risks investors and creditors are willing to take in the pursuit of profit in Ukraine’s agribusiness. Major creditors, including the International Finance Corporation and export credit agencies have been left with little hopes of recoveries. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has escaped the financial loss by a hair's-breadth.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development praises its own achievements in the agricultural sector. A look at Ukraine, however, reveals how sustainable food provision, local communities and the quality of soil are falling by the wayside with the bank’s focus on big industrial operations.

Environmental groups in Ukraine have highlighted the negative local impacts of one of the biggest agribusinesses in the country, MHP, that is in line to receive additional credit by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

While the EU's future common agricultural policy is taking shape in Brussels, it’s not just there that major agri-business interests are flexing their muscles to take the ‘green-ness’ out of EU agricultural spending.

A potential cooperation between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the agro-corporation Monsanto has thankfully not come to fruition. The case highlights the difficulties for a large development bank to reach farmers on the ground.