Cereal and vegetable yield records For several years in a row, Ukraine continues to update records for grain yields. This year, the harvest of grain and oilseeds reached 98 million tons, and exports – 62 million tons – this is the largest figure in the history of independence. The country also received $9.6 billion and took second place in the ranking of exporters after the United States. Last year, it updated the historical record for fruit and vegetable exports. Exports increased by 9.4% compared to 2018, and 20.1% more than in 2017.
Association with the EU: duty-free quotas for the export of agricultural products From October 1, 2017, the EU introduced additional duty-free tariff quotas for agricultural and food products, which are in greatest demand in the EU. Thanks to the signing of this agreement, Ukraine updated its product labeling rules, met EU sanitary and phytosanitary requirements and expanded opportunities for small and medium-sized farms, and thus entered a new stage of foreign trade.
Special VAT regime Starting in 2017, at the request of the IMF, the authorities abolished the special VAT regime and farmers switched to the general taxation system. But budget subsidies have come, which today help regulate the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine. While crop production has been reinstated in VAT refunds on exports, resulting in higher purchase costs, livestock production has not been so fortunate. The transition to a general taxation system is typical for agricultural producers by a decrease in income and an increase in feed costs, which make up about 60% of the cost of production.
Opening of the land market In 2020, the authorities made a decision on the land market. According to the law adopted on March 31, 2020, the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land is lifted from July 2021 – is this not the most important decision that the state has made since Ukraine’s independence.
Implementation of precision farming During independence, our state began to actively modernize agricultural enterprises. Today, there are dozens of companies that have already introduced precision farming to increase yields and profitability of production. Thanks to the use of various technologies, from the improvement of seeding units to sensors for monitoring the condition of the fields, Ukraine constantly updates harvest records and ranks high in the international arena.
Kusto Agro also introduces precision farming technologies on its farms and effectively uses innovations to increase yields and save natural resources. “Agriculture is now largely digital. Precision farming – the use of sensors, drones, data and robotics – has the potential to make a dramatic difference to the sustainability of agriculture by increasing yields, using water efficiently and reducing the use of harmful chemical pollutants such as pesticides,” said Alisher Tyazhin, CEO of the company. “Kusto Agro”.