Thus, a new pilot project “Creating an effective logistic chain of fruit and vegetables delivery” was launched; its implementation provides for organization of efficient and innovative cooperation between farmers, logistics companies, and retail chains.
We would remind you that last year Andrii Hordieiev, Head of Kherson Regional State Administration, stated about the necessity of reviving transportation of watermelons grown in Kherson by water up the Dnipro River – to Kyiv and then to Belarus. General Director of NIBULON Oleksiy Vadaturskyy supported this idea.
At present, goods of small and medium-sized farms rarely can be found on shelves of supermarkets, as the retail chains deal with large batches of goods and are not in a position to negotiate with each farm. Because of the difficulties associated with the increase in road transportation costs, logistics and sales, about 30% of watermelon yield remains on fields. In addition, since watermelons are loaded mainly in bulk, another 10-13% of the products are mechanically damaged and become unsuitable for sale. The new chain of fruit and vegetables delivery launched in Hola Prystan will help to solve most of these problems.
“Agriculture is an engine of progress; it is able to develop the economy of Ukraine. This will also guarantee rural development. The problem is that small business and middle business can’t participate in a formal chain of supply. We believe that with the help of this pilot project, with the involvement of farmers, we can test an innovative scheme of agricultural products delivery from Kherson region to Kyiv.  This is an initiative of a group of farmers with the involvement of NIBULON as a representative of large business that will provide logistics support and Silpo retail chain in Kyiv as a representative of the final buyer. Our role is to analyze results of the pilot project, and, in case of its success, use this experience in other regions.  Perhaps next year we will not be limited just to watermelons. After a while fresh vegetables and fruit will be delivered to consumers across the country. This is a dream. But attracting people with innovative thinking, like NIBULON, Silpo, Pivdennyi Eksport, we will be able to turn it into reality”, said Patrick Rader, manager of the USAID “The Agriculture and Rural Development Support” project.
In turn, General Director of NIBULON Oleksiy Vadaturskyy said, “We are ready to do this work. Moreover, I want to say to representatives of the USAID that we have enough terminals along the Dnipro River to carry out this activity: we have two branches in Kherson region, two branches in Zaporizhzhia region and so on. We can arrange delivery of agricultural products and deliver as much as necessary. But to do this we have to understand which technique of transportation to use during transportation, which temperature is suitable for this, and suitable amount. Then we will able to prepare our vessels for this technique. The question is correct; this is a pilot pioneer project. We must study and work the entire logistic chain. We can load watermelons here into containers, load them on non-self-propelled vessels and unload at our branch in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi. We can adjust it for this purpose. We can organize a cumulative base with you if necessary.
Secondly, it is necessary to determine the responsibilities of everyone at each part of this chain. Who is responsible for quality, who should determine quality, because our laboratory is certified and aimed at grain and oilseeds analysis. Do we need to create a separate laboratory or we will work just as a transport company. 
If another company is responsible for all the indices, then we, being a transport company, guarantee goods delivery to Kyiv in five days. To do this, we will buy a high-capacity loader of the German company to transport up to 30 tons in containers. If you can form containers of this size, container-conditioners, we can load and unload them. That is, there are many opportunities. For us and for you. We have to think things over, so that it would be convenient for farmers, to expand their market. And I am sure that we will be able to transport these goods not only to Kyiv but to Belarus and other northern regions of Ukraine”.  
Thus, implementation of the given pilot project will result in decrease in farmers’ losses by 20% and their transport costs by 25%; there will be cooperation between small producers to form large batches of fruit and vegetables; the standards of packaging and transportation of fruit and vegetables will increase. In addition, farmers will be able to supply fruit and vegetable products to retail chains on a regular basis, and customers of the retail chains will receive products of higher quality.