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Success Story
Production increases
as company implements advisors’ suggestions
Volunteers Catalyze Cannery’s Success
Photo: Lina Dotsenko
To expand the market for Ukraine’s farmers, USAID helped develop the Yahotyn Cannery, which increased income for both farmers and local residents who now work at the cannery.
Overall assistance to the cannery contributed to a significant increase in production volumes, from 3 million up to almost 8 million standard jars of canned products.
To stimulate demand for farmer produce and expand their market, USAID developed the Yahotyn cannery project near Kyiv. Although successful in other businesses, owner Sergey Kalenichy, who started in the canning business in 2004, had limited experience in the canning industry. Sergey succeeded in getting the business off the ground and gradually increasing the company’s production of canned goods but, as production levels increased, the cannery hit the limits of its management, production and distribution abilities.
The cannery sought assistance in strategic business planning, production management, marketing, and production technologies. With help from four volunteers from a USAID farmer exchange program, the Yahotyn cannery developed a 5-year business plan and a facility expansion plan, improved its distribution chain, and learned modern pickling practices.
Overall assistance to the cannery contributed to a significant increase in production volumes, from 3 million up to almost 8 million standard jars of canned products. This expansion in the cannery’s production catalyzed a corresponding increase in the number of growers supplying the cannery with raw material. The number of farmers supplying the cannery increased from 80 to 120 people, and their combined income increased by a total of $47,000 as a result of their expanded business with the cannery. Other beneficiaries included the cannery’s 200 permanent and 250 seasonal employees, whose incomes increased by a total of $130,000.
Pradeep Patnaik, a food processing consultant from North Carolina, was particularly noteworthy, helping the cannery to not only develop a five-year business plan, but also to organize the visit of Sergey and cannery management to the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in North Carolina, one of the largest cucumber pickling canneries in the United States. During the visit, the cannery team learned cucumber fermentation technology that would allow them to extend the canning season from 3 to 11 months and double production volumes at the cannery.
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