Ukrainian farmers did the impossible: restored vegetable production destroyed by Russian invaders

According to EastFruit analysts, Ukrainian farmers have made incredible progress in restoring vegetable production, which was previously concentrated in the southern regions of the Kherson region but is now occupied by Russian invaders. Despite the fact that the Russian occupiers almost completely destroyed the cultivation of traditional vegetables in the region, including the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam,  irrigation systems, modern vegetable storage facilities, mining of fields and other barbarities, Ukrainian farmers were able to incredibly quickly establish cultivation in other regions of the country.

This is completely unprecedented – in just one year, in the context of an ongoing war, a shortage of labor and specialists, to restore cultivation to almost pre-war volumes in regions that do not have optimal conditions for this! For comparison, for more than 30 years since the collapse of the USSR, Russia, having unlimited land resources, has not been able to develop production vegetables and fruits in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of its own population, while Ukraine did it from scratch in just a year! Let us note that growing vegetables is a very technologically complex process that requires deep knowledge of agronomy and significant investments.

According to EastFruit, Ukraine’s progress in this matter can be confirmed by wholesale prices. “According to EastFruit’s weekly price monitoring, the so called “borscht set of vegetables”, which includes potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage and red beets, fell in price by 11% over the year. The sharpest reduction in prices occurred for onions and carrots: by 48% and 33%, respectively. Potato prices have increased significantly, but they remain among the lowest in Europe. Thus, we can talk about the restoration of potato prices to a level acceptable for potato growers,” explains price trends Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

We also note that a certain increase in prices was recorded for beets and cabbage, however, these crops were always grown mainly in those regions that were not occupied by Russian invaders, and the increase in prices for these goods also reflects their restoration to average levels due to market stabilization. Last year, their prices were critically low, as there was a significant outflow of the country’s population, while production remained relatively high.

Despite the decline in prices for many crops, according to EastFruit experts, vegetable and potato growing in Ukraine will remain profitable in the 2023/24 season, which will help attract investments in this sector next season. The priority for Ukrainian farmers will be to expand storage and post-harvest handling capacities in order to be able to restore opportunities for exporting vegetables.

Tags: Ukraine, vegetables