Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Mykola Prysyazhnyuk: Ukrainian potatoes rot
We have to develop agro-industrial infrastructure and work on improvement of logistics efficiency in agro-industrial sector for storage and effective distribution of food surpluses which exceed consumption levels of the Ukrainian market. This was said by Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, during Shuster Live show at Pershyi Natsionalnyi TV-channel.
“We produced 16.8-17 mil tonnes of potatoes last year. 6 mil tonnes are consumed by households directly. 12 mil tonnes of potatoes are ineffectively fed to cattle or simply rotten”, the Minister was quoted to say by Party of Regions' press service.
“What must we do to remedy the situation? For this, we have to construct vegetable warehouses, we need logistics and coordination of actions among regions”, M. Prysyazhnyuk said.
Earlier, M. Prysyazhnyuk said that Ukraine's agrarian sector produced three times more agricultural goods than households consumed.
“Unfortunately, we have to say that either the Ministry is greatly misinformed and is not able to assess the situation in the potato and vegetable market properly, or this is incompetence of journalists who quoted the Minister incorrectly”, Andriy Yarmak, head of Fruit-Inform Project, says. “For some reason, the Minister absolutely ignores seed potatoes, about 4.5-5 mil of which we need, and potatoes for processing, and obviously underestimates consumption volumes in Ukraine. How much cattle do we need and how must we try to feed to cattle and let rot 12 mil tonnes of potatoes – more than majority of EU countries produces”, the expert continues.
We have already informed of numerous delusions in assessment of the Ukrainian potato market. So we offer all market participants interested in proper supply/demand balance for potatoes and major vegetable crops to take part in the third international conference “Potato and Vegetables of Ukraine-2011”.
This event is to take place at Shuvar wholesale market, Lvov, Ukraine, February 24-25, 2011. Participation has already been confirmed by many leading producers and suppliers of materials, equipment and machinery, as well as representatives of wholesale and retail trade.
On-line registration is available through this link.