On March 3, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved «The National Economic Strategy until 2030», which officially sets the goal for % of land under organic production.
According to the strategy, it is planned that the percentage of lands with organic status should be at least 3% of the total area of agricultural lands in Ukraine, which is approximately 1.3 million hectares.
It will be recalled that according to the operational monitoring data collected by the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, as of December 31, 2019, about 468 thousand hectares (organic and under transitional period) are under organic production in Ukraine. So it is planned to increase the area under organic production three times during the next 10 years.
One more indicator of the strategy is to increase exports of organic products to 1 billion US dollars by 2030.
It’s quite an ambitious goal, given that in 2019 the export of organic products from Ukraine was about 189 million US dollars. So the government expects to increase organic exports 5 times during 10 years while increasing the area under organic production only 3 times.
To achieve these goals, the following steps are suggested:
1. Support of organic production:
- implementation of support programs for producers of organic products
- implementation of measures aimed at raising awareness of producers about the benefits of organic production
2. Increasing the production of organic products:
- development of financial and advisory support programs for organic producers
- attracting more producers to organic production by improving government regulations in this area
3. Ensuring the development of sustainable production
- promoting sustainable agricultural production, protecting the environment and animals, promotion of organic production methods and the use of biotechnology, «climate-smart» agriculture and forestry with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change, sustainable management of natural resources and saving and enhancement of biodiversity
It’s been previously written about the goals for the development of organic production set in the first Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ukraine. It will be recalled that the target is set at 7% there.