The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), intends to develop agrarian diplomacy, said Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, after a meeting with Viorel Gutsu, head of the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.
“The goal of agrarian diplomacy is to train specialists to promote Ukrainian agricultural products on international markets on the basis of specialized higher education institutions. We are talking about the so-called agrarian attaches at diplomatic and trade missions abroad,” the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy quoted Vitaliy Koval as saying.
The Ukrainian minister added that the FAO team had confirmed its interest in implementing such a project.
The ministers also discussed the possibility of allocating grants for Ukrainian farmers to automate production processes and increase the volume of value-added products, providing livestock farmers with generators, switching to gas generators, attracting international experts to adapt the Ukrainian agricultural sector to European requirements, and climate programs for Ukraine.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, with financial support from the German government, will distribute 17 generators with a capacity of 27 to 88 kW to food producers and processors, the FAO press service reports.
“It is necessary that enterprises can continue production and provide the population with fresh food even during power outages,” the statement said.
According to the report, by the end of 2024, an additional 131 generators will be distributed to enterprises located in close proximity to the front line to increase the self-sufficiency and sustainability of national producers.
As reported, under this initiative, FAO has already handed over 97 generators to small and medium-sized enterprises from Sumy, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions.
World food prices fell 9.6% in April from a year earlier, the FAO (UN food and agriculture organization) said in its monthly report on Friday.
Meanwhile, March’s price index was revised up 0.3 percent, the document noted on its website.
The cereal price index rose 0.3 percent in April from March after three months of declines. World wheat export prices stabilized in April as strong competition among major exporters offset concerns about unfavorable crop conditions in several countries in the European Union, Russia and the United States. Export prices for corn were boosted by strong demand amid growing logistical disruptions from infrastructure damage in Ukraine and production concerns in Brazil ahead of the main harvest.
The vegetable oil price index also rose 0.3% year-on-year in March to a 13-month high. FAO indicated that higher quotations for sunflower and rapeseed oil offset a slight decline in palm and soybean oil prices.
The Meat Price Index increased 1.6 percent in April from the previous month as international poultry, beef and lamb prices rose. World pork prices declined slightly, reflecting sluggish domestic demand in Western Europe and persistently sluggish demand from leading importers, especially China.
The sugar price index declined 4.4% from March and was 14.7% below the April 2023 level. The decline was attributed to an improved global supply outlook, particularly due to higher than previously expected production in India and Thailand, as well as improved weather conditions in Brazil.
The Dairy Price Index declined 0.3% after six months of gains, driven by sluggish spot import demand for skim milk powder and lower global cheese prices due to a stronger U.S. dollar. In contrast, world butter prices rose on the back of robust import demand.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in November compared to October reduced the forecast of world grain production in 2022 by 4.9 million tons – to 2.764 billion tons, according to the report of the organization.
The new figure is 1.8% lower than last year’s harvest. “The bulk of the revision concerns wheat, but the forecast for global coarse grain production has also been slightly reduced,” the document says. Thus, the wheat harvest estimate is down by 3.4 million tons to 783.8 million tons. However, it is 0.6% higher than in 2021 and is an absolute record.
As the experts explain, the revision of the wheat harvest forecast “is almost entirely due to production indicators in the U.S. – a decrease in yields and the reduction of harvesting areas. Forecasts for other producing countries, where the harvest is coming to an end, have not changed.
Forage grain harvest estimates are down 1.3 million tons to 1.467 billion tons. That’s down 2.8 percent from last year. “This is the first decline in production in four years,” the report notes. Most of this month’s decline in the forecast is due to lower corn production estimates in the U.S. and the EU, where recent data show the effects of the drought were more widespread than previously thought. Ukraine’s corn production forecast has been raised.
According to the report, corn acreage will remain planted in 2023, “but further expansion may be constrained by high production costs.”
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has agreed on the signing of an agreement between the government of the country and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the establishment of a project office in the country to provide it with technical and humanitarian assistance in the face of Russian military aggression.
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine on Tuesday, the Cabinet of Ministers on September 27 authorized First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko to sign this agreement.
“Ukraine has long and fruitfully cooperated with the FAO, an organization whose mission is to fight hunger around the world. Our state has been and remains the breadbasket of Europe and the world, but because of the war unleashed by Russia, we already need help. FAO provides it, in in particular, by implementing jointly with the governments of the partner countries programs to support Ukrainian farmers,” Sviridenko was quoted as saying by the ministry.
It is specified that with the start of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, FAO has updated a rapid response plan to help Ukrainian small and medium-sized farmers and agricultural producers. As of mid-August, the organization provided emergency assistance in the form of seed material and cash for 80,000 people in 13 regions of Ukraine.
In addition, FAO and the Government of Ukraine, with the financial support of Japan and Canada, are implementing projects to restore grain storage capacities in the warring country, which provide for the supply of equipment for loading and unloading grain, modular storage containers, etc. to Ukrainian farmers from 10 regions.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the implementation of a rapid response plan and a strategy to increase grain storage capacity in Ukraine will cost FAO and its partners a total of $180.4 million.
“The adoption of the Agreement and the creation of an FAO office in Ukraine will allow raising cooperation to a higher level … We expect closer coordination in matters of grain exports. Ukraine will continue to help countries where the issue of food is acute. In the future, cooperation will contribute to the growth of Ukrainian exports and the achievement of our the goal is to create an export-oriented economy with high added value,” Sviridenko summed up in the message of the Ministry of Economy.
FAO is a UN agency dedicated to ensuring world food security, improving nutrition and living standards in its member countries. The organization consists of 194 countries, Ukraine joined it in 2003.
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Pork consumption by Ukrainians in 2021 will grow by 4.7% compared to 2020, to 15.5 kg per person per year (excluding fat and offal), which will be the highest result since 2013, when this indicator per capita was 17.9 kg.
This opinion was published on the website of the Association of Pig Breeders of Ukraine with reference to data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The increase in pork consumption is determined by several factors, including the growth of domestic production. Pork occupies niches that free up other types of meat, primarily chicken. So, in 2021, the consumption of chicken will decrease by almost 2 kg,” FAO agricultural markets expert Oleksandr Sikachyna quoted in the post.
According to him, the elasticity of demand for meat is slow: consumers need time to change their purchasing habits, so consumption will not be able to quickly respond to high rates of production growth.
