Top issues of Ukrainian agriculture - view of international expert.
Main challenges for Ukrainian agriculture are weather conditions, logistics, access to financing and transition to deeper processing, said Olena Voloshyna, the head of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) office in Ukraine.
"What Ukraine should focus on, and we are ready to help in this, is the issue of smart farming - advanced technologies. In some subsectors we are already doing this well, but nevertheless, the productivity of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises can still be improved, and here we need technologies. The second thing is agricultural insurance, which is not developed in our country. For many years we have been trying to move the issue off the ground," she said during the Black Sea Grain & Oil Trade 2020 international conference in Kyiv.
The expert called irrigation another important factor in reducing the impact of weather conditions on agricultural production.
"Ukraine has a system of canals, building such today would require billions of dollars in investments, at the same time it is used ineffectively. Now the IFC, together with the World Bank, the EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), FAO, other international organizations and the government of Ukraine is trying to find a solution to how to improve the efficiency of the irrigation system so that it really works. Climate change leads to the fact that irrigation is needed not only in the south, it is already needed in the center of Ukraine, and the problem is quite serious and requires efforts from all participants," she said.
According to her, there is a strategy for the revival of irrigation, it was written by the Ukrainian government in cooperation with the World Bank and FAO. Now the task is to implement this strategy.
She said logistics was another challenge for the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex. According to her, the IFC will now prepare Chornomorsk seaport for concession at the request of the government and the Ministry of Infrastructure. She noted roads and transport highways can also become the object of concession or other options of public-private partnership.
Source: Interfax Ukraine.
