Yurii Tkachuk
General Director, Yara Ukraine LLC
What technologies and innovations will define the development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine in the coming years?
The future of the agricultural sector in Ukraine will be defined by everything we call "digital technology": automation, precision farming, compilation and analysis of large databases. It's not just about growing plants. Today, most companies – manufacturers of equipment, seeds, plant protection products or fertilizers – are actively introducing innovative solutions. This increases productivity, optimizes costs and balances the market.
To what extent is Ukrainian agriculture ready to align with the global trend of automation and precision farming?
Production conditions, access to financial resources and the lack of subsidies have for years posed serious challenges to national agricultural producers. We are forced to seek and introduce innovations to be competitive in the global market.
Yara International is making active use of digital technology in the plant nutrition segment. For our company, Ukraine takes a priority place among European countries as the most prepared and promising one for the introduction of automation and precision farming.
How do you see the future of Ukrainian agribusiness in the world market?
The global challenge facing agrarians is to increase yield per hectare. Ukraine is already an important player in the global agribusiness but our potential has not been fully uncovered yet. Today, our manufacturers are working on a quality transition from providing the world market with raw materials to exporting value-added products. And in the future, Ukrainian agribusiness will be more technological, efficient and significant in the global agricultural arena.
Kostyantyn Ivanyuk
Marketing Director, Syngenta Ukraine
What technologies and innovations will define the development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine in the coming years?
We consider the development of the agricultural sector of Ukraine as three interrelated elements – the volume of commodities, their quality and cost. To get higher volume, better quality and lower cost, you need to apply different technologies and innovations. Of course, the genetics of seeds and crop protection products are of fundamental importance. This is what ensures a bigger part of success – no other innovations, including digital ones, will double the yield.
To what extent is Ukrainian agriculture ready to align with the global trend of automation and precision farming?
The level of readiness to apply digital innovations is determined by the intensification level of the farm – whether they use the right farming techniques and practices, high yield seeds, innovative crop protection products and technologies. The next stage is the optimization of production. There is already a wide range of digital technologies in the world, all we need is to actively introduce them. And the potential of digitalization of the agricultural sector in our country is huge.
How do you see the future of Ukrainian agribusiness in the world market?
Ukraine already takes a fairly high position in the international food arena. The question is how we can strengthen this position. On the one hand, this can be a further increase in the volume of exports of major crops and, on the other hand, it can be the development of production and export of value-added products. And it is important to emphasize that these are not mutually exclusive factors but rather complementary. In Ukraine, it is possible to double the average yield or go beyond that – we have room to grow. But it is also extremely important for us to be able to process and successfully sell a value-added product. The manufacturing of value-added products has more economic advantages, and along with higher volume, we end up with a recipe for success.
Read Also
Maksym Repnoy
Technical Director, Mercury Trade
What technologies and innovations will define the development of the agricultural sector in Ukraine in the coming years?
In the near future, integrated products that will be able to collect all the information of the enterprise, analyze it, facilitate the best decisions, make accurate predictions and find effective practical application for them in the field will become the most important. Trends emerge in agroholdings but more recently, medium and small enterprises have been increasingly introducing modern digital technology.
To what extent is Ukrainian agriculture ready to align with the global trend of automation and precision farming?
The automation of farming is a mainstream trend on the entire Ukrainian agricultural market. The fact that Ukrainian farmers are consciously prepared to develop, save and increase yields means they are looking forward to introducing modern technology.
How do you see the future of Ukrainian agribusiness in the world market?
Thanks to our fertile land, people who love to and can work, extensive experience and modern technologies, we can become one of the world's most important players in agribusiness. We are already proving this by our exports of oil-bearing plants, nuts and honey. We need to add a structured and comprehensive approach – and agribusiness will reach a completely different level in the country and in the world.
Photos provided by Yurii Tkachuk, Kostyantyn Ivanyuk, Maksym Repnoy.
Read Also
