Agriculture

Ukraine’s farm sector produces almost 9% of GDP and employs a fourth of the working population. Arable and farming areas constitute 40 million sq km. Planted crops account for 57% of total agricultural output. Among the dominant crops are wheat, corn, sugar beets, sunflowers, legumes, tobacco, vegetables, and fruits. Livestock farming includes cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and so on.

Annual wheat production in Ukraine is 35 to 45 million tonnes and total cereal production can be as high as 90 to 100mn t. Domestic needs, even if sharply increased, are about 35 to 40mn t., making as much as 60mn t. available for exports. This is one fourth of total world grain exports.

Most of the grain exported from Ukraine is destined for the Middle East and North Africa. Export contracts for certain categories of agricultural products are subject to registration by the Ministry of Economics. The main items that can be exported from Ukraine subject to licensing and/or quotas where applicable and must be registered prior to their export from the country.

The production of cereal and industrial crops tends to be the specialization of agricultural enterprises. Major cereal crops include winter wheat, spring barley and fodder maize. Winter wheat appears to be the main crop for both private farms and agricultural enterprises.

Wheat

Wheat is grown throughout the country, but Ukraine’s central and south-central regions are the key growing areas.  About 95% of Ukrainian wheat is winter wheat, which is planted in the fall and harvested during July or August of the following year.

Ukraine produces mainly hard red winter wheat or bread wheat. In a typical year, some 80% of the domestic wheat crop is considered to be of milling quality according to Ukrainian standards. In 2009 the production of wheat was 20,9 mn tonnes which is 19.7% less than in 2008.

Barley

Barley has been the main feed cereal in Ukraine for most of the past 10 years in terms of consumption. Spring barley accounts for over 90% of the barley crop, the main growing region being eastern Ukraine. Spring barley is planted typically in April and harvested in August. It is the crop most frequently used for the spring reseeding of damaged or destroyed winter harvests. The area is inversely related, to some degree, to the area of winter wheat. Winter barley is the least cold-tolerant of the winter cereals and production is limited to the extreme south. In 2009 its production was 11,8 mn tonnes (- 6,2% to 2008).

Maize

Maize is the third most important fodder cereal in Ukraine. The planted area has increased despite a number of constraints, such as obsolete and inadequate harvesting equipment, the high cost of production, especially post-harvest drying costs, and pilferage. The main growing region is eastern and southern Ukraine, although rainfall in some oblasts in the extreme south is too low to support maize growth. Maize is typically planted in late April or early May. Harvest begins in late September and is usually nearing completion by early November. Only 25–50% of total maize area is harvested for grain, the remainder being cut for silage, usually in August. In 2009 its production was 10,4 mn tonnes (- 8,5% to 2008).

Industrial crops include sunflower, sugar beet and rapeseed. Many surveyed farms in Kherson, Donetsk and Poltava oblasts specialize in the production of the first two crops.

Sunflower seed

Sunflower seed is Ukraine’s main oilseed crop. Production is concentrated in southern and eastern oblasts. Sunflowers are typically planted in April and harvested from mid-September to mid-October. Because of a combination of high price, relatively low growing costs and high demand, sunflower has become one of the most consistently profitable crops. In 2009 its production was 6,3 mn t or 97,5% compared with the previous year.

Sugar beet

Sugar beet is grown primarily in central and western Ukraine. The beet is planted in late April–early May and harvested from mid-September until the end of October. Production has been declining since the early 1990s, mainly as a result of low profitability compared to growing cereals and sunflower. Between 1994 and 2007, the planted area dropped by 40%, to less than 0.75mn hectares and production plunged from 28.1 t to 17.6mn t. (In 2009 its production was 10 mn t which constitutes a decline of 25,4% compared with 2008). On private household plots, however, the sugar beet area increased during the same period. Sugar beet production requires a significant amount of manual labor and remains a viable option for small household farms with limited access to farm machinery.

As most cereal and industrial crops are produced by agricultural enterprises, private farms tend to focus on growing fruit and vegetables. The principal reasons for specializing in vegetable growing are the many possibilities for selling produce, either fresh or for processing, and the availability of manual labor instead of special equipment. In 2009 its production was 8,3 mn t which constitutes a 4,2% growth compared with 2008.

In recent years, the traditional zonal pattern for growing major agricultural crops has changed. Thus, for example, sugar beet, a crop grown predominantly in the forest-steppe zone, has advanced further south and is now grown by Kherson farmers. However, the areas sown to these crops are not significant, and the yields are much lower than in the traditional growing areas. In 2009, area planted under sugar beet continued to shrink, with the exception of Rivne and Khmelnytskiy Oblasts, where a slight increase was registered. In southern regions, no sugar beet production was reported.

The production of grain and oilseed crops is dominated by large agricultural enterprises that were established when Ukraine’s farm sector was restructured in April 2000. By contrast, nearly 90% of the country’s vegetables and virtually all of the potatoes are grown on private household plots. In 2009, 97% of potatoes, 87% of vegetables, 22% of grain, 19% oilseed and 9% of sugar beet are grown on private farmsteads. State and collective farms were dismantled and farm property was divided among the farm workers in the form of land shares.  Most new shareholders leased their land back to newly-formed private agricultural associations, under the leadership of a manager who was frequently, but not always, the director of the former state farm.  Consolidation of small farms into larger and more viable enterprises has been the prevailing trend, similar to what took place in Russia several years ago.