Dutch-Ukrainian Potato Forum

Publicatie | 05-02-2021

An annual event for the professionals of potato sector.

On February 24, 2021, the Association "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business" together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers and UCABevent held the XI Dutch-Ukrainian Forum on Professional Potato Farming in online format.

The following issues have been addressed during the event:

• State support for industrial potato growing: priority vectors of domestic market development and export

• Harmonization of Ukrainian and European legislation in the field of potato production. Conformity of production to EC standards. Plans for 2021

• Export requirements to the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. Quarantine zones for potato growers. 4 phytosanitary directives. Laboratories and arbitration services

• The current state of development of industrial potato production

• Specifics of growing potatoes by professional segment in Ukraine

• Presentation of State standards(DSTU) for table potatoes, developed on request of Association of Potato Producers (UAVK)

• Production of certified seed potatoes in Ukraine

• Post-harvesting processing of table potatoes. Pre-retail preparation. Types of potato processing

• Potato storage.

• Current state of potato enterprises – members of association. Challenges of the 2021 season

Facebook page of the event https://www.facebook.com/events/441352973978277

Video record of the webinar (Ukrainian)

Dutch-Ukrainian Potato Forum Taras Vysotskyi

Post Release

This year the key issues of the forum were state support for industrial potato production, the current state of the industry in Ukraine and the world and the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with EU legislation.

During his introductory remarks, Reinaud Nauten, Agricultural Counselor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, said that the forum was being held online for the first time in eleven years.

"The coronavirus, of course, has a very strong impact on our lives, and it is at this time that I believe that the role of the agricultural sector is becoming extremely important. Despite the quarantine, farmers work very hard. They are the first to implement innovations and effective solutions to support their business, ensure regular deliveries and ensure the safety of their employees. For the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine, potato production remains one of the highest priorities for cooperation with Ukraine,” said Reinaud Nauten.

According to him, the main strategic tasks today are to strengthen the role of the industry association, maintain a productive dialogue between producers, suppliers and the government, shape a strategy for the sector development and enter the world market.

"We also aim to create effective platforms for exchanging innovations with Ukrainian companies and providing opportunities to find new and strengthen existing partnerships. I want to assure you that the Embassy will continue to support initiatives and projects in the industry that share our priorities and interests, contribute to the goals of sustainable development and the introduction of more environmentally friendly methods of potatoes management and production," he said.

Oksana Ruzhenkova, executive director of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers, noted that one of the tasks set by the association at the stage of creation was to write a strategy for the development of industrial potato production. And it is a great achievement, that in 2020 this program was written. However, for 2021 the association still has many tasks.

"As you know, the borders with the Customs Union are still not closed. We have applied to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine and the Sanctions Committee, but, unfortunately, Ukraine is still delaying. And this affects primarily the segment of potato production. In particular, due to the fact that in the first quarter of the year, potato producers usually import seeds, products come freely from the territory of the Customs Union to Ukraine again," – she said.

Taras Vysotsky, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, spoke in more detail about this concept of industrial potato production development in Ukraine. He said that the purpose of the program is to stimulate the development of industrial potato production, as well as in-depth processing of high value-added products, development of potato seed production, introduction of irrigation on industrial plantations and construction of potato storages.

According to him, the total amount of program funding is UAH 6.04 billion, of which UAH 1.37 billion are from the state budget and UAH 4.67 billion are from business entities.

"Following the discussions taking place in the industry over the past ten years, I will say frankly that there has been no active participation of the state before. And, first of all, thanks to the position of producers and profile associations, we now have all the prerequisites for the active support of the state to finally be launched in 2021," said Taras Vysotsky.

According to Oksana Ruzhenkova, positive changes in the industry are already noticeable. In particular, among small potato producers who cultivate 3-7 hectares of land, who have recently become interested not only in state support for seeds, but also in the chambers for potato storage.

"We have not seen such activity for at least ten years. According to our data, potato seeds multiplied in Ukraine have been sold out. Currently, only potato seeds are imported. Finding quality seed this year is already a problem. This is a pleasant signal from the market, which indicates an increase in demand, and we can hope for positive changes in the industry," she said.

In turn, Serhiy Shupyk, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Crop Production at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, spoke about the current state of the potato industry in Ukraine.

In particular, he noted that according to the regional state administrations, in 2020 20.7 million tons of potatoes were produced, of which 20.035 million tons (98%) were produced by households and 367 thousand tons (1%) by agricultural enterprises.

The main producers of potatoes last year were Vinnytsia (1.9 million tons), Zhytomyr (1.8 million tons), Lviv (1.6 million tons) and Kyiv (1.5 million tons) regions. The average yield of potatoes, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, for all categories of farms was 164 centners per hectare (224 centners per hectare in agricultural enterprises and 163 centners per hectare in households). According to Serhiy Shupyk, compared to 2015–2019, potato yields in Ukraine fell by 4.5%.

Olga Kryukova, project manager of the analytical company AgriStat, spoke about world trends in the potato production industry, new growing technologies and dynamics of potato consumption in different countries of the world. According to her, 22% of world potato export are provided by France, the second largest exporter is the Netherlands (21% of world exports), and the third largest is Germany (19%). The main importer of potatoes is Belgium with a share of 15% of total world export, second place with a rate of 9% is taken by the Netherlands, Germany and Spain with a rate of 7% are at the third place.

"Ukraine in 2019 made the largest increase in imports among the world's major importers of potatoes, rising from 131 to 14th place in the ranking of potato-importing countries and showing growth from 2015 to 2019 by 99.9%," said Olga Kryukova.

Vladyslava Magaletska, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, spoke during the forum about the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with the legislation of the European Union and about the joint work of the State Food and Consumer Service of the Ministry of Economy on the draft Law "On Plant Protection".

"I can assure you that if we require our producers to grow potatoes in accordance with the requirements of international standards and acts of the European Union, it will allow us to increase the competitiveness of the potato industry and increase potato exports," she said.

In addition, during the forum Yulia Slyva, a representative of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, presented the first edition of the National Standard of Ukraine for ware potatoes, Oles Kapitanchuk, a representative of Tolsma Teknik LLC, spoke about value-added potato products, Andriy Marushchak, a representative of Van Dyke Techniks LLC, acquainted the participants with the state of the potato storage capacity market in Ukraine, Serhiy Dushka, director of the Zamozhna Kraina production and consulting company, presented his vision on how to minimize risks and increase the profitability of potato growing with irrigation.

The organizers thank everyone who joined the event and are pleased to announce that the full recording of the XI Dutch-Ukrainian Forum on Professional Potato Production can be viewed at any time by following the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT9ua_I2OK4&feature=youtu.be

Dutch-Ukrainian Potato Forum

Video record of the webinar (Ukrainian)

Post Release

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