Friday 18 February 2022

The Ukrainian women leaving combat for greener futures

Two sisters forced to flee their hometown of Donetsk following armed conflict seven years ago, have set up a green farm in Kharkiv, serving restaurants more than 300kg of produce each month.

The ‘Green for You’ farm has been aided by the UN migration agency IOM and meets its new standard set for environmental responsibility.

More than a quarter of Ukrainian consumers have revealed they regularly refuse to buy a brand’s product if they disagree with its environmental impact and Valentina and Tetiana Denysenko have taken this on board with their green venture.

The Denysenko sisters also use eco-friendly packaging and waste-free technologies for their project and hope more of their compatriots can take steps towards a more sustainable world in troubling times.

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia has heightened in recent weeks but the sisters hope a brighter future is on the horizon.

Valentina said: “We are going to launch a pilot project in two schools and help children create urban farms in the classroom.

“The smartphone generation has no idea how plants grow, or how they end up on supermarket shelves. We want to educate them and change their eating habits, by explaining that adding salads and microgreens to their daily diet is good for their health.”