Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
The modern vegetable storage was presented in Lyudmila agricultural cooperative in Cherkasy oblast
On the 7th of July 2005 the grand opening of the most modern vegetable storage for Cherkasy oblast was conducted on the basis of Lyudmila agricultural cooperative in village Khudyaki, Cherkasy rayon; the members of the cooperative were able to construct the storage due to the grant program of the Agricultural Marketing Project. Utilizing the storage, the cooperative members - village inhabitants will be able not only increase their revenues, but also supply Cherkasy supermarkets with the high quality vegetables on moderate prices all year round.
The Ukrainians got used to the excessive volumes of vegetables in harvesting season and shortage of these commodities off-season. So vegetables are sold for nothing in summer and cost very expensive in winter; moreover, they are of relatively low quality off-season. The utilization of the special modern storages with the refrigerating equipment is one of the solutions. In the storage of Lyudmila cooperative nearly the whole assortment of vegetables, usual for the Ukrainian consumer, will be stored.
The major advantages of the storage constructed by Lyudmila cooperative under the support of Agricultural Marketing Project, are the guaranteed highest quality of vegetables during a long period of time, and the possibility to have a much better price for the commodities produced by the cooperative members. And, the cooperative is getting the considerable advantages for the work with supermarkets, which require both the high quality of vegetables and the permanent and stable supply during the whole year. A high efficiency of vegetable production due to the modern technologies only adds certainty that the business of the cooperative members will be developing successfully.
Lyudmila Sobol, the Chief of Lyudmila cooperative, tells that the cooperative was created in 2004 thanks to the support of the Agricultural Marketing Project, which specialists introduced to the local inhabitants the most modern technologies of the quality vegetable production and helped to adjust the cooperation with Cherkasy supermarkets, Kyiv wholesale companies.
During the study tour to Poland Mrs. Lyudmila saw that the local farmers utilize actively packing and storing of vegetables and supply their commodities to supermarkets on high prices. Back home, Lyudmila suggest her colleagues to join effort for business development. They together prepared the business-plan for the participation in AMP grant program and were able to persuade the grant commission in their serious intentions and the perspectives of this project. The grant covered only 21% of capital costs for the storage construction - all the rest expenses were born by the cooperative members.
So, nowadays Lyudmila cooperative members hope for at minimum 20% revenue increase and the stable growth of the joint business. This, in its turn, means the creation of the additional jobs and the income growth for the local inhabitants. The cooperative founders are satisfied with the fact that they will be able to supply the regional population with the quality national product during the whole year.
Before the grand opening of the storage in Lyudmila cooperative Cherkasy AMP office conducted the seminar "Modern technologies of vegetable production and marketing".
Eighty one farmer, 52 representatives of the local governmental authorities, processing enterprises Veres, Favorit, Korsun-Shevchenko cannery, wholesale companies Tropik, Olvita, Perspektiva, private enterprise Bolilo, the specialists from seed and input companies, scientific specialists, journalists and others participated in the event. During the theoretical part of the seminar the problems of vegetable marketing were considered; on the demo sites the participants could see 180 varieties and 18 hybrids of vegetable crops, and also know more about the production technologies.