Today, April 13, the 3rd discussion on “Changes in agricultural policy in Ukraine – chances and opportunities in a state of war” took place as part of a series of online events “Will a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 lead to radical changes in agri-food markets? “. The event was attended by the management and specialists of the SI “Derzhgruntokhorona”.
Organizers of the event: Kyiv School of Economics (KSE, Ukraine), Leibniz Institute for Agrarian Development in Countries in Transition (IAMO, Germany), Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR, Netherlands) and German-Ukrainian Agropolitical Dialogue (APD, Ukraine) ).
Serious problems for Ukrainian agribusiness were caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which began on February 24 this year. In 2014, when the Crimean peninsula was illegally annexed by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed conflict in the Donbas began, agricultural activities in those regions suffered heavy losses. However, the current offensive is threatening agriculture across the country. Air strikes, occupation and active hostilities, which are currently taking place mainly in the southern, eastern and northern regions, pose a serious threat to the 2022 sowing and harvesting campaigns.
In recent years, Ukraine has become an important player in world agricultural markets.
Against this background, a series of panel discussions were held, the purpose of which was to combine thorough knowledge and conclusions about current threats and forecasts of the impact of the war on local and global agri-food markets and to provide the public with professional expertise on this topic.
Welcoming remarks were made by Oleksiy Pinchuk, Head of the International Policy Department of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, and Ophelia Nick, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The event addressed the issue of necessary changes in Ukrainian agricultural policy and a vision for further strategy. Mykola Pugachev, Deputy Director of the NSC “Institute of Agrarian Economics” considered this issue from a scientific point of view, and Pavlo Koval, Director General of the NGO “Ukrainian Agrarian Conference”, a member of the WAF provided an entrepreneurial vision of the situation.
Olena Dadus, Deputy Director of the Department of Agrarian Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Oleh Nivyevsky, Professor of the Kyiv School of Economics and Coordinator of the UaFoodTrade Research Project, IAMO Director, Alphonse Baltmann, Head of the Department of Structural Change, Deputy Director of the Institute of Agriculture Mykola Pugachev, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Conference, Pavlo Koval, Member of the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, Ihor Abramliuk.
Experts representing different areas of competence and geographical regions explored and discussed the short- and long-term effects of Russian aggression on the availability and prices of agricultural products, trade patterns, agricultural industries, national food policies and many other aspects of the war in Ukraine. . They provided the main goals in the agrarian policy for the future.
Frank Müller, Attaché for Agrarian Affairs of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ukraine, made a closing speech.The event was simultaneously translated into German / English / Ukrainian.
SI “Derzhgruntokhorona” expresses its sincere gratitude to the organizers of the event, in particular the moderators and acting Ms. Maria Yaroshko, Project Manager of the APD, for the opportunity to join the current discussion.