War in Ukraine: How WFP is helping one family plant seeds in the wake of bombs

Before the war, Olha Khotenko lived a whole and busy life on her farm with her husband, Sasha, in a quiet rural village in southern Ukraine. Life followed a rhythm tied to the land. Spring was for planting, summer for tending and autumn for harvests.

Cultivating land had been his dream – but Olha had been sceptical.

“It’s such a thankless job,” she told him. Still, they agreed to rent out four hectares of farmland and committed themselves to building something meaningful.

The couple planted two hectares of onions, one hectare of beetroot and another half a hectare of tomatoes and peppers. Greenhouses hosting seedlings kept them busy year-round – at one point, they had 17 farmhands helping out with planting, watering, weeding and harvesting across the fields and greenhouses.

Sasha would drive to Mykolaiv, 65 km away, to sell potatoes and tomatoes. Olha stayed put, managing the team and coordinating buyers – some of whom would come from as far as Lviv for their beetroot. Working together, the couple created a network of friends and contacts, as well as a modest and steady source of income. “We built a community,” says Olha. “It was fun.”

Peace around their hometown of Snihurivka shattered as the bombs arrived in February 2022.

“It was very, very scary,” Olha recalls. The couple slept in a dugout – a shelter big and sturdy enough for Sasha to build a stove inside. At one point, Olha spent two and a half weeks down there, too afraid to come out even for sunlight. “I lived like a mole”, she admits. I was so scared, it was terrible.”

People fled, including their workers. What used to be a farming community was now just Olha and Sasha planting courgettes and cucumbers all by themselves. Occasionally, Olha’s elderly father stepped up to help, but the labour was too much for him.

Olha and Sasha’s story is not unique – the war turned reality on its head for thousands like them.

In spite of the pressures, the Khotenkos were keen to hold on to everything they had. The crops they grew now mostly supported their cows, providing barley and wheat. They made cheese, cream and sour cream to sell to neighbours and sometimes to friends in nearby towns. Sasha would deliver the dairy to people who knew their farm from better times.

After the occupation, the will to survive persisted. The World Food Programme (WFP) provided the Khotenkos with a greenhouse where Olha grows cucumbers, courgettes and herbs that she can sell at the local market. 

The greenhouse is part of a broader self-reliance project to help families like Olha's get back on their feet, reaching more than 8,500 people with agricultural training, greenhouses, tools and cash support for homestead farming.

This year, WFP aims to reach 14,000 people with the project in frontline areas of Ukraine, providing small grants and training to support small enterprises – allocated based on the needs of each family.

For Olha and Sasha, this means resuming small-scale food production and earning a living once again through agricultural training tailored for small-scale farmers.

Such practical expertise helps people adapt to changing conditions and limited resources. “We didn’t expect much, but even a bit of help changes things,” she says.

What she wants now is simple: peace, health and a promising future for her daughter. But she also longs for the spirit of community that’s been lost. “Once upon a time, we helped each other. Now people are angry, everyone is on edge. The war showed us who people really are,” she says. Her wish is for people to return to how she remembers them – open, generous, kind – rather than how she now perceives them to be.

“I just want this war to end. I want peace to come back. And for people to be like they used to be.”

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