Ukraine needs to build vegetable storage facilities more actively to develop vegetable production
2 January 09:56
To store the harvest, Ukraine needs to build vegetable storage facilities in each region that can hold at least 10-20 thousand tons of produce. This was stated by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval on the Rada TV channel, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
He noted that Ukraine has now moved from static programs to dynamic ones, so next year’s budget includes UAH 1 billion to support the development of livestock and agricultural processing. According to him, the processing program will also include the construction of vegetable storage facilities.
“We need several powerful locations for potato and vegetable storage in each region, with at least 10-20 thousand tons of storage in each district and near regional centers,” Vitaliy Koval emphasized.
He added that a program for vegetable storage facilities should be launched next year. International partners are currently supporting small and medium-sized farmers, but the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is actively asking them to include the creation of vegetable storage facilities and vegetable processing in their programs.
The development of vegetable growing is hampered by the lack of storage facilities
Ukrainian potato growers need 1.4 million tons of storage capacity, but in fact there are only 300 thousand tons of storage. These are the figures provided by Mykola Hordiychuk, Vice President of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers and Director of Agriko Ukraine.
“At the same time, the lack of potato storage facilities hinders the development of the industry. The financial support of international partners is crucial in this regard, as potato producers cannot make such investments on their own in the war,” Mykola Gordiychuk said, as quoted by FreshPlaza.
According to him, the potato processing industry in Ukraine will require significant financial investments, both direct and indirect.
Availability of vegetable storage facilities also matters
Pavlo Bulgakov, an international vegetable consultant, quoted by AgroTimes, states that there are free vegetable storage facilities in Ukraine, but they are often located 300-400 km from the places of cultivation, which makes storing vegetables in them unprofitable.
According to him, several farmers from Central Ukraine, for example, have reduced the area under vegetables precisely because of losses in onion storage.
Some farmers do not risk storing vegetables for a long time and bring them to a regular hangar. But even in this case, many factors must be taken into account, such as the number of grams of moisture per cubic meter of outdoor air and indoor air, in order to preserve the harvest.
Pavlo Bulgakov also said that the number of vegetable growers in western Ukraine has recently increased, from Podillia to Volyn. Both small and medium-sized farmers and large farms are getting into vegetable growing. They are more likely to order training in storage technologies and maintenance of vegetable storage facilities. Farms are increasing their storage volumes by rearranging containers, changing the size of these containers, rebuilding and completing storage facilities. According to the expert, the storage volumes of the farms he supports have increased by about 20%.
