OSCE Office in Minsk helps rural communities build sustainable livelihoods post-Chernobyl

People living in the rural communities of southern Belarus face a twofold challenge - overcoming the environmental effects of the Chernobyl disaster on their agricultural livelihoods and adjusting to the change caused by the demise of Soviet-era collective farming structures.

Since 2003, the OSCE Office in Minsk has been pooling resources with local associations and international experts' organizations under the CORE programme (Co-operation for the Rehabilitation of the Chernobyl-affected territories) to support grass roots initiatives for the improvement of local livelihoods. Since then more then 20 projects have been implemented in the four districts targeted by CORE (Bragin, Slavgorod, Stolin and Chechersk).

The collapse of the Soviet Union left local farmers ill-equipped in terms of both technical resources and know-how to pursue viable agricultural activities on a private basis. Emphasis had been on Sovkhoz and Kolkhoz collective organizations and decisions about cultivation methods had not previously been made by individual workers. A practice of family cultivation of small, private yards, had developed, however. Expertise and experience in other forms of association for agriculture and agro-business development were welcomed by individual farmers whose means are often still limited.

Helping rural youth

In 2009, the Office supported a project to help young people in the rural areas of Slavgorod district become entrepreneurs. The main idea was to provide expertise for analysing local resources and capacities to develop business plans that would maximize the use of the available means. The network and rural association developed earlier in the district allowed for the sharing and disseminating of experience within one year.

Siarhei Tarasiuk, Coordinator for the Foundation for Rural Development, explained that the project was critical for young people and their future in the district. "The key is to help them start businesses on existing family plots and develop entrepreneurship skills."

A revolving micro-credit scheme was included in the programme and 7 young entrepreneurs benefited from grants averaging 800 euro. By end of year, the credit had been returned, allowing the money to be re-invested in a second round. The main achievement of these new, small - often family-size - set-ups in farming, agro-business or agro-tourism consists also in the fact that they provide the younger generation with real prospects for earning a decent living based on their own skills and local resources.

Alexander Shablousky, a technician from the local Foundation "Renaissance-Agro" believes that the youth project represents a first, practical step in helping young people in villages become self-sufficient in their business endeavours.

"What does the youth project means for us?" asks Valentina Timofeeva from Zavod Virovaya village, who benefited from the micro-credit scheme and purchased a cow with the grant. "It is simple: it is a way to improve our livelihood here, in the village. The milk and milk products are for our small son and are also an additional family income. I'm sure that the purchased cow will be the first step of a small rural entrepreneurial path for our family."

Improving greenhouse cultivation

The Office supported another project, this time in Stolin district in the Eastern part of Brest Oblast, which was long has been famous for cucumbers and other vegetables produced in greenhouses and exported to Russia. After years of special treatment for soil and water following the Chernobyl catastrophe, greenhouse farming is once again a reality in a large part of this very populous district.

With expertise from foreign experts, the Office helped associations of local small farmers introduce adapted and affordable technologies for the greenhouse cultivation of cucumbers and strawberries. Sharing the results at the pilot phase and disseminating the technology was possible thanks to an existing network of farmers who agreed to share the technology and results and also to the Center for rural entrepreneurship in Stolin, which provided technical and commercial consultancy.

Ivan Davichuk, a farmer at village Velemichy, said that first effects of the tested modern technologies were a 150% year-on-year increase in the cucumber yield, while consumption of solid fuel (peat briquettes and firewood) had dropped one third, and the work required to maintain the temperature in the greenhouse had nearly halved.

Beyond the technological efficiencies that has led to improvement in local farming, the programme has provided new prospects for families and new generations.

Mikhail Nesterovich, Deputy Head of the Stolin district Executive Committee said, "This kind of project, supported by the OSCE Office in Minsk, brought about concrete improvements for agribusiness practices that lead to sustainability of growth in the field."

Source: Francois-Vadim de Hartingh, OSCE Office in Minsk