Ukraine’s agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have historically faced challenges in obtaining bank financing, as they lack collateral to obtain loans. Since 2015, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in partnership with Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), has spearheaded transformative regulatory reforms to develop an ambitious crop receipt programme in Ukraine.
IFC and SECO’s implementation of crop receipts in Ukraine to improve access to finance for agri‑SMEs
Abstract
Ukraine’s agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have historically faced challenges in obtaining bank financing, as they lack collateral to obtain loans. This constrained the production and profitability of small-scale farmers, while also impeding Ukraine's position as a global agribusiness participant. The innovative financial instrument of “crop receipts”, which allow farmers to use future harvests as collateral, was identified as a powerful solution to this challenge. Its roll-out rested also on a strengthened enabling environment – including legal and regulatory reform. Since 2015, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in partnership with Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), has therefore spearheaded transformative regulatory reforms to develop an ambitious crop receipt programme in Ukraine.
The flagship initiative began by using crop receipts as a mechanism to help farmers to secure financing without traditional collateral funding. IFC established a notarized title-to-goods system by modernizing the legal environment with the Law on Crop Receipts (2012), allowing future crops to be used as collateral and enabling USD 1 billion in financing between 2015 and 2020 (and over USD 2.1 billion by the end of 2024). Building on this foundation, the Ukraine Agriculture Capital Markets Development Project (2020–24) reduced transaction costs to guarantee accessibility across farming sizes while modernizing the use of crop receipts for primary processing and livestock.
The creation of electronic harvest receipts, which represented a radical departure from paper-based methods, was a key component of the reform. This innovation was underpinned by the 2023 first reading of the Law on Agrarian Notes, which laid the legal and institutional groundwork for integrating electronic receipts into Ukraine’s financial infrastructure. Electronic harvest receipts are recorded in a central depository and operate as non-issued marketable securities, in contrast to their paper-based predecessors.
A major milestone was reached in March 2025 with the country’s first pilot issuance by Agroprosperis Group—an event that signalled market readiness and set an important precedent for broader adoption. This development significantly expanded opportunities for agricultural SMEs to access capital markets and paved the way for future securitisation. To ensure continued legal certainty, the project team actively monitors court rulings, with over 37 Supreme Court decisions to date reinforcing the validity and enforceability of crop receipts.
Complementing these legal reforms, IFC and SECO prioritised capacity-building and stakeholder engagement to ensure uptake and sustainability. Training programmes targeted farmers, creditors, and policymakers, raising awareness of the benefits of crop receipts while strengthening monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
Importantly, the program utilised a thorough ex-ante quantification framework to assess its potential impact. It initially estimated $520 million in loans based on crop receipts, but post-implementation monitoring showed that over $1.1 billion had been facilitated by the end of the project—more than double the expectations. The number of crop receipts issued (4,707) and farmers reached (4,234) also greatly surpassed targets.
Simultaneously, the legislative reform and capacity building initiatives sparked a major shift in Ukraine's agri-finance industry, releasing much-needed funding and establishing agricultural SMEs as important forces behind the country's post-war recovery and expansion. This program emphasizes how crucial it is to combine capacity-building initiatives with legislative reforms in order to boost investment, improve financial inclusion, and strengthen resilience in Ukraine's agriculture industry. It also sets a powerful example for other development co-operation programmes, on the crucial role of technical assistance in addressing systemic barriers and ultimately mobilising private finance.
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