The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture of Ukraine supported the concept of horticulture development until 2025 elaborated by the Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA) together with the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation, the Institute of Horticulture and Melon Сultivation, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture and Ukrainian vegetable producers.
According to the press release of the UHA, the major problem, which the concept is aimed at, is to provide the population of Ukraine with quality vegetable and melon products, as well as the development of effective competitive production.
“The volume of vegetable commercial market in Ukraine according to different estimates is about UAH 60 billion in wholesale prices. The greatest challenge for the industry is the informal economy, reaching 75-80% of the total volume, which amounts to UAH 40 million in monetary equivalent. The share of retail chains, which pay VAT on sale in the Ukrainian vegetable retail market, does not exceed 15%. Moreover, price fluctuations in the internal market sometimes exceed 1,000% per year,” the Head of UHA, Fedir Rybalko, is quoted in the report.
Among other problems in vegetable production, he singled out the growth of vegetable imports and the decline in exports. He says that in 2019, exports fell to 70,000 tonnes, while imports reached almost 200,000 tonnes.
“We included five areas in the concept that could improve the situation in the sector. Addressing the issue of price fluctuations and unshadowing requires an incentive for smallholder farmers, family farmers and individuals to integrate into the civil market, allowing producers to gain access to government support and funding programs, and to obtain better prices for their products,” the head of the association noticed.
The Ukrsadprom association has appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food with the request to increase funding of the program for the development of viticulture, horticulture and hop growing by the end of this year to meet the demand of farmers.
“Ukrsadprom records an extremely high demand on the part of gardeners for state support, the peak of which will be in the autumn planting season. And it is clear today that the demand of gardeners will significantly exceed the supply of existing support,” the association’s press release said.
In this regard, according to the decision of the association council of August 11, 2018, an appeal was sent to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food by the end of this year to increase funding for the program to meet the demand of farmers and expand the list of priority directions of state support, adding articles related to storage and pre-sale preparation of grown products.
“Considering high demand on the part of gardeners for participation in the support program, as well as the need to attract modern technologies to the industry and ensure sustainable development, Ukrsadprom suggests significantly increasing the amount of financing for the program in 2019 to ensure the rapid introduction of storage and pre-sale preparation facilities for Ukrainian fruits and berries,” the association said.
