EUR 13 million for Ukraine seed production plant

Date:06-16-2009

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may lend EUR 13 million to Maisadour Semences Ukraine (MAS Ukraine) to finance a part of the construction of a green-filed seed production plant in Ukraine.

The EBRD Board of Directors is to consider the project on July 14, 2009, the EBRD said in a statement on Friday.

"MAS Ukraine will have the first modern seed production plant in Ukraine," reads the statement. "It will work with the farmers to help them improve the quality and yield of their commercial seeds through agronomic assistance and training."

According to the EBRD, the project will contribute to greater efficiency in the market as most of the commercial seeds used in Ukrainian agriculture are imported. There will be backward linkages to Ukrainian farmers as they will receive parental seeds from MAS Ukraine, cultivate them on their own land and sell the unprocessed commercial seeds back to MAS Ukraine which will process them. There will be forward linkages to farmers as they will be able to buy processed commercial seeds from MAS Ukraine which should be able to achieve better yields for their crops as they are customized to the Ukrainian agriculture environment.

Maisadour Semences Ukraine is a subsidiary of Maisadour Semences S.A. (MAS).

MAS is a French seed production company which is a subsidiary of Maisadour Group which owns 60%, and Syngenta Seeds which owns 40%. The Group is a French cooperative operating in various agribusiness segments (seeds, cereals, vegetables, animal feed, poultry breeding, retail, etc.). Syngenta Seeds is a subsidiary of Syngenta, the Swiss agribusiness multinational focused mainly on crop protection and commercial seeds.