Despite the war and climate challenges, Ukrainian farmers have managed to maintain the amount of land under vegetable production. However, the leadership in the production of many crops in Ukraine is gradually shifting from households to larger market players, SEEDSwrites .
This was stated by Taras Bashtannik, President of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association, during the conference VeggiFruits. Processing of vegetables and fruits.
Regarding the shortage of vegetables in Ukraine, which arose with the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, according to the expert, it was quickly replaced and there was no shortage in terms of area, it could only occur in terms of yield.
“This year, the abnormal heat could not but affect any vegetable crop, and we see this in potatoes. But we can predict that next year, about half of Ukraine will be “in potatoes”. And then vice versa. And so on in a circle,” Taras Bashtannik is convinced.
According to the expert, not only in Ukraine, but all over the world, there are always certain factors that affect the yield of a particular crop. However, no shortage will affect the work of processing companies.
“The quick reaction of importers to a certain deficit that fills the domestic market is more about the end consumer and retail. Processing companies do not like not having contracted volumes and planned prices,” says the President of the UPOA.
In addition, Taras Bashtannik drew attention to the changes that have occurred recently in Ukraine, which concern the production processes of many crops.
“Now it is becoming easier for state statistics to account for many things, because we see a redistribution of the production of many crops from households to small, medium and large enterprises that submit at least some statistics.
Previously, 95 plus, or rather 98-99% of the production of any position was produced by households,” reminded Taras Bashtannik.
During negotiations with representatives of the European Union in Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy discussed the prospects of receiving grants and financing for the Ukrainian agricultural sector, as well as the introduction of Common Agricultural Practice (CAP) after joining the European Union, MP Serhiy Labaziuk (For the Future party) said in a telegram channel.
Christian Ben Hell, Head of the Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Food Safety Sector of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, informed that Ukrainian farmers have already received grants worth EUR 1.5 billion.
“My colleagues suggest not to tax pomegranates for farmers in any way, as this is actually humanitarian aid. The EU considers it incorrect to take part of it into the budget,” said the MP.
The participants of the meeting stated that the EU requirements for agriculture have been met by more than 71%. In the course of further adaptation of the European legislation, the MPs emphasized the need to introduce changes taking into account the interests of Ukrainian producers.
“Ukrainian farmers want to work with the European market, but this figure will be about 20%. The rest will be transit or export to other countries,” said Labaziuk.
The MPs also raised the issue of the blockade on the Ukrainian-Polish border.
“The committee returned to the issue of parity – whether we will have any problems or manipulations with the export of our products if we fulfill the EU requirements in good faith,” the parliamentarian summarized.
The meeting heard reports from Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative Taras Kachka and Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Oksana Osmachko.
There is a downward trend in prices on the carrot market in Ukraine, according to analysts of the EastFruit project. At the same time, according to the producers, the demand for carrots today remains quite low: wholesale companies make purchases as needed, preferring not to lay products for long-term storage, which negatively affects the overall price level.
For example, as of today, producers are shipping carrots at 15-23 UAH/kg ($0.36-0.56/kg), depending on the quality and volume of the offered batches of vegetables, which is on average 21% cheaper than a week earlier. The reason for the decline in prices for root vegetables, according to the project experts, is a seasonal increase in supply amid rather restrained demand for these products. In an effort to boost sales, farmers are forced to revise selling prices for carrots downward.
It is worth adding that despite the price decline, today carrots in Ukraine are on average 2.4 times more expensive than in the same period last year.
You can get more information about the development of the market of carrots and other fruit and vegetable products in Ukraine by subscribing to the operational analytical weekly – EastFruit Ukraine Weekly Pro. Detailed information about the product can be found here.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has raised more than $510 million from the private sector and international donors to support Ukrainian agricultural producers over two years as part of the Agricultural Resilience Initiative in Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine), with the U.S. government contributing another $350 million to the program, the donor organization said.
“AGRI-Ukraine, founded in July 2022, has already helped more than 14 thousand Ukrainian farmers, which is 32% of registered agricultural producers in the country, to obtain the necessary resources, such as seeds, fertilizers, plant protection products, access to storage facilities and financial resources. This made it possible to harvest crops and provide additional income of more than $90 million due to an increase in corn and sunflower production by 430 thousand tons,” the statement said.
When Russia tried to block the export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the Black Sea ports, AGRI-Ukraine helped to prepare alternative export routes, in particular through ports on the Danube River and land border crossings.
Thanks to these measures, 62 million tons of agricultural products were exported, bringing more than $17 billion to the Ukrainian economy, USAID stated.
According to the donor organization, contributions of $510 million provided by the private sector and international donors tripled the original target set by USAID.
“In 2023, AGRI-Ukraine expanded its circle of partners to include 26 Ukrainian agricultural companies, the American seed company Gowan Seed, international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan.
“USAID and its partners remain committed to supporting Ukraine’s agricultural sector and the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, which will help mitigate the global food crisis that is deepening as a result of the war unleashed by Russia,” the donor organization assured.
Agrarians of all regions of Ukraine have harvested early grain and leguminous crops on the area of 6185.1 thousand hectares, having threshed 27 million 259 thousand tons of grain at a yield of 44.1 c/ha, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, the leaders in grain harvesting are the farmers of Zaporizhzhya region, who threshed 96% of the area, the largest threshing remains in Odessa region – 3.2 million tons. Harvesting of early grain crops is fully completed in Poltava, Vinnitsa and Odessa regions.
To date, Ukraine has harvested barley on 1398 thousand hectares, which is 94% of the planned, of which 5.567 million tons were threshed; wheat from 4.384 million hectares (94%) harvested 20.818 million tons; peas from 152.2 thousand hectares (101%) received 379.1 thousand tons.
Agrarians of Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa and Ternopil regions have started harvesting millet, which was threshed 379.1 thousand tons from the area of 152.2 thousand hectares, which is 3% of the plan.
Dnipropetrovsk region threshed 0.1 thousand tons of buckwheat from 0.08 thousand hectares, which is 5% of all areas under this crop in the country.
In addition, 492.1 thousand tons of other grain and leguminous crops were threshed from 249 thousand hectares.
Agrarians of 13 regions have completed the harvest of rapeseed. It was threshed from the area of 1370.7 thousand hectares (92% of the planned area), from which 3944.1 thousand tons of winter rape was harvested.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy in connection with the revision of the forecast for the harvest of all crops monitors information on their yields. Thus, for barley this week it amounted to 39.8 c/ha against 38.8 c/ha a week earlier, wheat – 47.5 c/ha (46.2 c/ha), peas – 24.9 c/ha (24.6 c/ha), winter rape – 28.8 c/ha (28.1 c/ha), millet – 12.1 c/ha (6.9 c/ha). Data on buckwheat at 11.3 c/ha corresponds to last week’s figures.
As reported, winter wheat sowing this season amounted to 4166 thousand hectares (-834 thousand hectares to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thousand hectares (-255 thousand hectares), rapeseed – 1374 thousand hectares (+110 thousand hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023 agrarians will be able to harvest grain in the following volumes: wheat – 20.9 million tons, barley – 5.8 million tons and corn – 28.1 million tons. Gross production of oilseeds will reach 20.3 million tons, in particular, sunflower – 12 million tons, rapeseed – 4 million tons, soybeans – 4.2 million tons. The sugar beet harvest is forecasted at 13.7 million tons.
Ukrainian agrarians harvested 66.32 million tons of major crops from the total area of 16.28 million hectares by December 2, with 2.5 million tons of corn from 0.4 million hectares, including 15.5 million tons of corn from 2.5 million hectares (60% of cultivated areas) in the period November 25 – December 2.
According to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the total area of agricultural land, from which the crops were harvested, increased by 3 percentage points (p.p.) – up to 85% of the previously planned areas.
In terms of crops harvesting of wheat, barley, peas and rapeseed was completed. During the week the volumes of harvested buckwheat remained unchanged (98%), but increased by 1 percentage point for soybeans – to 98%, sunflower – to 97%, millet – to 96%, by 4 percentage points for sugar beet – to 97%, by 7 percentage points for corn – to 60%.
According to Minagropolitiki, the final yield of wheat in the current season amounted to 19.4 million tons from 4.7 million hectares, barley – 5.6 million tons from 1.6 million hectares, rape – 3.2 million tons from 1.1 million hectares, pea – 261 tons from 111 thousand hectares.
In addition, December 2, a total of 15.5 million tons of corn was harvested (+2 million tons per week) from 2.5 million hectares (+0.3 million ha), 9.9 million tons of sunflower (+0.1 million tons) from 4.6 million hectares (+0.1 million ha), 8.6 million tons of sugar beets (+0.4 million tons) from 174 thousand hectares (+8 thousand ha). ha (+8 thousand ha), 3.6 million tons of soybeans from 1.5 million ha (no change), 157 thousand tons of buckwheat (+1 thousand tons) from 115 thousand ha (no change), and 100 thousand tons of millet (2 thousand tons) from 42.9 thousand ha (+0.3 thousand ha).
According to the Ministry, the average yield of all crops in the current season was 44.4 c/ha, including corn – 61.3 c/ha, wheat – 41.2 c/ha, of barley – 35.1 kg/ha, rape – 28.9 kg/ha, soy – 24.2 kg/ha, pea – 23.4 kg/ha, millet – 23.2 kg/ha, sunflower – 21.7 kg/ha, buckwheat – 13.6 kg/ha, sugar beet – 498 kg/ha.
It is reported that farmers of Mykolayiv and Odesa regions have completed the harvesting of all crops. Most cereals and leguminous crops were threshed in Vinnitsa region – 3.7 million tons, followed by Kirovograd region (3.4 million tons) and Dnipropetrovsk region (3 million tons).
As reported, this week, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotsky told Interfax-Ukraine news agency on the sidelines of the conference “EBA-2022 Infrastructure Day” that the corn harvest this year will be successfully harvested until the spring 2023.
“There are still 11-12 million tons of corn left in the fields. We will be able to harvest it, but depending on weather conditions, it may take several weeks to several months. Ukraine has experience in harvesting it in previous peaceful years. It all depends on weather factors – this crop may be on the fields until spring. Harvesting speed also depends on the weather factor, “- Vysotsky commented on the situation.
Ukraine in 2021 harvested a record crop of cereals, legumes and oilseeds at 106 million tons: cereals and legumes – 84 million, and oilseeds – 22.6 million tons.
A total of 32.4 million tons of wheat, 40 million tons of corn, 10 million tons of barley, 581.5 thousand tons of peas, 191 thousand tons of millet and 110 tons of buckwheat were harvested last year. Sunflower harvest amounted to 16.3 million tons, soybeans – 3.4 million tons and rapeseed – 2.9 million tons.
