Investment and Industrial Company Poltavazernoprodukt, part of Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has increased its irrigated area to 1,100 hectares, the company’s press service said on Facebook on Wednesday.
Serhiy Cherevik, regional director of Poltavazernoprodukt, quoted in the post, noted that irrigation has become a key factor in stable yields.
“This allows us to make the most efficient use of every millimeter of moisture. This year, we are growing hybrid corn and commercial soybeans on irrigated land.
Irrigation is an investment not only in this year’s harvest, but also in the stability and development of agricultural production in our region. We have ambitious plans to expand the irrigated area, because the future of Ukrainian agribusiness lies in sustainable and efficient technologies,” he emphasized.
The company specified that before the next production season, Poltavazernoprodukt specialists restored and repaired communications and water supply stations, cleaned water channels, graded the lines for sprinkler machines, serviced the sprinkler machines themselves, and concluded water supply contracts.
“Eight sprinkler machines are operating at full capacity, serviced by 14 hydraulic engineers in several shifts,” the company said.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine and the largest sugar producer in Ukraine.
It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobyn (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In 2024, Astarta increased its net profit by 34.5% to EUR83.25 million, while its consolidated revenue decreased by 1.1% to EUR612.15 million.
In the first quarter of this year, the agricultural holding’s revenue fell by 24.9% to EUR124.58 million, while net profit fell by 28.8% to EUR6.42 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
