Ukraine ranks 20th in the world in terms of organic land area

In Ukraine 421 thousand hectares of land are certified for the organic agricultural production, thus, Ukraine ranks 20th in the world in terms of organic lands area.

This is stated by Bogdan Dukhnitsky, PhD in Economics and the senior researcher of the department of the economy of agrarian production and international integration of the National Research Center Institute of Agrarian Economics, the NSC reports.

In the structure of farmland, the share of organic land amounts to 1%. The main areas of Ukrainian organic farmland are used for growing grain crops (wheat, barley, corn) — 197 thousand hectares. 67 thousand hectares are allocated for the production of oilseeds (sunflower and rapeseed).

"The area for growing organic vegetables exceeds 8 thousand hectares, as well as organic potatoes — 1.2 thousand hectares. According to the areas allocated for the cultivation of organic grains, oilseeds and vegetable crops, Ukraine is among the top 10 producers in the world. In particular, our country is the seventh in terms of grain production area, the fifth in terms of the oilseeds areas, the ninth in terms of potato areas, and the tenth in the rating of vegetable producers," notes Bogdan Dukhnitsky.

He also notes that the number of enterprises that produce organic products is steadily growing in Ukraine. In 2006, only 80 enterprises were engaged in this kind of agricultural activity. In 2011, their number increased to 155, and in 2016 there were already 390 enterprises.

"The domestic agricultural organic production has great potential. The world organic food market is growing and estimated at more than EUR 75 billion. At the same time, the volume of the domestic market of organic products in Ukraine amounts to EUR 21 million, which is approximately EUR 0.5 per person," Bogdan Dukhnitsky summed up.

Reference: in 5 years the land bank under organic production has doubled in Ukraine. Now it is about 500 thousand hectares.