On January 12 2011, the European Commission, represented by the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, signed a contract for the supply of equipment and software to operate the MARS crop yield forecasting system in Ukraine.
Following an open tender process, the contract to supply equipment and software to operate the MARS crop yield forecasting system in Ukraine was signed on behalf of the European Commission by the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine and the Ukrainian company Epos LLC, the winning bidder. The supply of the equipment is funded by the European Union and supports the project ‘Implementation of Ukraine’s commitments under WTO and ENP frameworks in the rural sector (Sector Wide Approach)’. Together with a twinning project on food safety, the supply contract and the sector wide approach project form a 9m EUR programme of EU support to agriculture and rural development in Ukraine.
The list of equipment to be supplied includes computer hardware and software, weather station scientific instruments, global positioning systems, vehicles for field weather station transportation, and office equipment. The crop forecasting system is to be operated across six oblasts of Ukraine (Kyiv, Vinnitsia, Kirovograd, Donetsk, Kherson and Zhytomir) by the Leonid Pogorilyy Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute, the institute designated by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food as implementer of the MARS system.
Implementation of the MARS crop forecasting system will enable the Ukrainian authorities to improve their measurement of cereal crop areas planted, forecasting of yields and potential surpluses, and will increase the effectiveness of domestic agricultural policy and international trade in the cereals sector. The equipment and software will be delivered and commissioned over the next few months.
About MARS: MARS - Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS, is a crop yield forecasting system using remote sensing and meteorological observations, agro-meteorological modeling and statistical analysis tools. The MARS system is coordinated within the EU by the Joint Research Centre, a Directorate General in its own right, which provides scientific and technical support to the European Union.
For more details about the supply of the MARS system please contact:
Bohdan Drozdowskij, Team Leader, ‘Implementation of Ukraine’s commitments under WTO and ENP frameworks in the rural sector’ project, +380 44 355 0178, bd@swap-rural.org.ua
