Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
In 2006 vegetable acreage will increase in Kharkiv oblast, and decrease in AR Crimea at most, the Ministry of Agriculture prognosed
The Ministry of Agriculture of Ukraine informed "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal that the total vegetable acreage can increase 3.6% in 2006 in the country. According to the Ministry's estimations, Kharkiv oblast will lead this trend; vegetable acreage growth can reach 6.3% there. The rates of vegetable acreage increase will be lower in other oblasts than in the whole country in average. The Ministry also enumerated the following regions where vegetable acreage can grow: Kherson, Kyrovograd, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Dnepropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, and Sumy oblasts. The Ministry representatives expect vegetable acreage in AR Crimea, Kyiv, Volyn and Chernygiv oblasts to decrease the most significantly.
The analysts of the Agricultural Marketing Project agree that vegetable acreage tends to grow; however they find the prognosis of 3.6% increase in Ukraine to be somewhat undervalued. To their opinion, due to the high vegetable prices in 2005 the interest to these commodities production increased much in the country. As a result, many small farms decided to give up grain production and switch to vegetables. The same trend is observed for large farms as well, especially those located near the large cities - they are studying the idea of vegetable production seriously now.
To the opinion of the experts of the Agricultural Marketing Project, vegetable acreage (excluding potato) can increase in average 10-15% throughout Ukraine comparing to 2005; more than 40% of the farmers responded that they either extend vegetable acreage or start to produce vegetables this year. At present moment the Project jointly with "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal is finishing the forecast of vegetables, fruits and berries production and prices in 2006. The forecast is the first this year, it will be published in "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal and on AMP web-site www.lol.org.ua mid April.