Experts and producers shared their experience and recommendations on the development of organic horticulture production at the conference «Organic horticulture business: perspectives for 2021», which took place online on March 18.
As of the end of 2020, according to the data of the certification body «Organic Standard», there were 50 vegetable producers in Ukraine, cultivating an area of about 134 hectares.
According to the results of 2020, 2945 tons of organic vegetable products were produced in Ukraine, almost 50% of which are pumpkins, zucchini and other melons.
Vasyl Shukalovych, a leading specialist and coordinator of fruit and berry certification of «Organic Standard» LLC, explains this by the fact that these crops do not require special technical knowledge and are not very capricious, thus they are often grown on lands that have been just transferred to organic production.
A significant share in organic vegetable production, which is 24%, is occupied by the so-called borscht set: potato, carrot, beet and other root vegetables. About 10% are onion and garlic, their share has doubled compared to 2019. All other vegetables and greens together make less than 15%.
In Ukraine, there are about 10 companies engaged in the production of indoor vegetables. Most of them are small farms that mainly have an area of up to 0.1 hectares under organic cucumbers and tomatoes and provide a quarter of their production in Ukraine.
Most experts and producers emphasize the following main problems that affect the development of organic horticulture production:
- limited knowledge of technologies for growing organic vegetables;
- personnel problems;
- low consumer awareness about organic food.
Regarding technologies, it refers to technologies of cultivation, use of plant protection products and fertilizers, also the lack of knowledge and untimely use of such products. Regarding personnel problems, it applies not only to the manufacturer but also to retail specialists that are responsible for the procurement of organic products. But the biggest problem is a low level of consumer awareness of the benefits of organic products and the lack of state control over pseudo-organics.
«Significant consolidated work of the entire organic sector is required to overcome this information gap, — said Olena Deineko, one of the conference’s organizers, director of the «Organic Business School» and coordinator of the association «Organic Initiative». — It’s for this consolidation that «Organic Initiative» is launching an active communication campaign very soon, to which we invite everyone interested.»
Kateryna Shor, OrganicInfo.ua
For reference:
The conference «Organic horticulture business: perspectives for 2021» — is a traditional March conference that has been attracting practitioners, experts, consultants and newcomers to organic production for several years in a row.
Organizers of the conference are Information Agency «Infoindustry» and «Organic Business School».
The conference has been organized with the support of Ukrainian Horticulture Business Development Project (UHBDP) and also with the support of Switzerland within the Swiss-Ukrainian Program “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” is funded by Switzerland and implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland).