Ukraine has all the possibilities to reach a gross yield of grain and oilseeds at the level of 100 million tons in the next 7-10 years. This was stated by the Vice-President of the Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club" (UCAB), Volodymyr Makar.

"In the first turn, the crucial factor that adds optimism to future forecasts concerning the grain yields is an increase in yield of main crops which has already become a steady trend in recent years. The annual growth of more than 5% is the today’s given. In 2011, the average grain yield reached 37 centner/ha, but this is not the limit for the agrarian Ukraine", - Makar said.
According to UCAB experts, in 2020 the grain harvest may reach 82 million tons, and the harvest of oilseeds - 18.05 million tons i.e. Ukraine can reach the gross harvest of grain and oilseeds at the level of more than 100 million tons. This is facilitated by certain structural changes in the crop production. For example, in 2007, the crop production was primarily dependent on the harvest of winter crops, but since 2008 the proportion of spring crops has been growing steadily. Moreover, in 2011 the share of spring crops in total crop production was 55%, the share of corn was 40% with the 2 times higher yielding capacity per ha.

"Optimism is added by the fact that despite the adverse weather conditions during the entire period of grain yield formation, we expect the gross grain output in 2012 at the level of 45 million tons, a level that only a few years ago was regarded as average or above average "- Makar underscored.

Volodymyr Makar claims that the adaptation of crop rotation to more harsh weather conditions is of the immense importance. In particular, in southern steppe regions of Ukraine sorghum is considered to be the prospective crop with the yield less than 35 centner/ha. "A few years ago, the area under sorghum crops in Ukraine amounted to 30-40 thousand hectares but today we have reached a level of 200 thousand hectares of areas under sorghum," - Makar said.

However, the expert noted that the growth of gross yield is not a goal in itself but an objective necessity for the economy of Ukraine. "With an estimated domestic consumption of 30 million tons of grain crops and 6 million tons of oilseeds, the export volumes of grain crops and oilseeds in 10 years may reach 52 and 12 million tons respectively, which may turn into an annual income of nearly 20 billion USD", - emphasized Volodymyr Makar. He believes that the implementation of the potential of agro-industrial complex is the most realistic way to stabilize the volume of forex and gold reserves and reach macro-financial stability in the country in general.

Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club"

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Tetiana Kotyk
www.agribusiness.kiev.ua

The Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club" (UCAB) http://agribusiness.kiev.ua was founded in 2007 to protect the economic and professional interests of players of agribusiness in Ukraine. UCAB is a unique platform in Ukraine for establishing business contacts between the leaders of agribusiness, improvement their work and dialogue with the government. UCAB actively supports Ukrainian producers in establishing and maintaining international business relations. The Association consists of the largest producers and processors of agricultural products in Ukraine.