Grain from Ukraine: total deliveries exceed 280 thousand tons, recent shipments to Africa and the Middle East

 

Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food

As of the end of March 2025, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy's humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine has already delivered more than 280 thousand tons of food to countries facing an acute food crisis. Recent deliveries include wheat flour and vegetable oil to regions with a high level of food insecurity.

In particular, on March 10, a ship with 415.9 tons of vegetable oil arrived in Mozambique. Prior to that, on March 7, 553 tons of wheat flour were delivered to Palestine, which was the final delivery under the Grain from Ukraine initiative for WFP operations in the region. Also, at the end of February, on February 27, an important shipment of 4,400 tons of wheat flour was completed to Syria, which, according to WFP, will help provide bread for more than 59,000 Syrians for six months.

Grain from Ukraine is an international humanitarian program launched in 2022 at the initiative of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Its goal is to supply Ukrainian food to the most vulnerable countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East with the financial support of donor countries and in coordination with the UN World Food Program (WFP). Despite its name, the program covers not only cereals but also other food products, including vegetable oil and flour. Food aid has been provided to 15 countries under the initiative: Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Yemen, and Zambia.

In total, more than 280,000 tons of food have been delivered since the start of the program. This has been made possible by contributions from international donors, whose total commitment since 2022 has been announced at USD 331 million. Funding for the program is organized in rounds. The current, third round has raised $35.5 million in confirmed funding from 29 donor countries.

The next round of deliveries, with $18.8 million in funding from Canada, Sweden, Portugal and Spain, will be sent to Bangladesh, Chad, Mozambique, Pakistan and Syria.

The Grain from Ukraine initiative is an example of how a country that is itself affected by russian aggression is actively addressing global food security challenges and remains a reliable partner in the fight against hunger in the most vulnerable regions of the world.