The 2024 potato season in Ukraine faced many challenges, and this affected the harvest yields, says Olha Samoilichenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Potato Growers Association: "The biggest challenge was and still is the war, as some potato producers have the front line in close proximity to their fields and farmers are working under constant shelling. In 2024, weather challenges were added: in June, some regions experienced extremely high rainfall, which resulted in floods and waterlogged fields. Critically high temperatures were observed in July, and in August all regions except the western part of Ukraine experienced drought and critically low rainfall. As a result, machinery could not cope with heavy soils and fields without irrigation, as there were many clods. In September, some farms stopped harvesting until the rainfall in late September/beginning October. Other challenges: mobilization and lack of workforce, constant blackouts (6-9 hours per day), and difficulties with logistics."
Overall, there was more professional acreage for potato cultivation, but other factors have resulted in lower production, Samoilichenko explains. "The potato acreage in 2024 was 10% higher, on average, than in 2023, but potato production in 2024 decreased by an average of 30%, due to weather conditions. It's estimated that almost 20% of potato fields remain in the occupied territories or are filled with mines. The southern regions, such as Kherson, part of Mykolaiv and Zaporizha, where early potatoes were grown, were the most affected. Some farms have lost everything - fields, machinery, storage facilities. Others are unable to operate and develop because of the huge war risks. The eastern regions that are not occupied continue to grow potatoes, but yields have dropped significantly due to weather conditions and reduced investment. The western regions, which are the least affected by the war and climate change, are the most stable."
Overall, the lower potato production has led to higher prices for consumers in Ukraine, Samoilichenko states: "The retail price of potatoes in Ukraine increased by 130%, while the producer price increased by 90% if to compared to last year's prices. This was caused by a shortage of potatoes on the market, due to a poor harvest and a significant decrease in private potato production. Before the war, private households accounted for 90-95% of potato production. Currently, official statistics do not reflect the actual situation, as the war has made it impossible to conduct reliable surveys. At the same time, there has been a significant decrease in the area under potatoes in private households and small farmers. We estimate that Ukraine grows potatoes on the area of 50 thousand hectares by professional farmers, so not including household farms. The decrease in yield and quality in 2024 caused a deficit of potatoes in Ukraine, with high prices.
The export of potatoes from Ukraine has reached insignificant levels, and instead, imports of the product to Ukraine are increasing according to Samoilichenko. "Exports of potatoes from Ukraine to the EU countries are prohibited for phytosanitary reasons. Ukraine is implementing EU requirements and submitting the relevant documents to the EU Commision. But this takes time. There are exports to other countries, but they are very insignificant. This is due to rising prices in Ukraine and technical/logistics barriers to trade. Regarding imports – Ukraine has imported high amounts of table potatoes from Poland, Turkey, Lithuania, The Netherlands and so on. The FCA price varied from 200 Euro/t from Poland to 300-350 Euro/t from The Netherlands."
Nick Gordiichuk, Vice-President of the Ukrainian Potato Growers Association and Managing Director of Agrico Ukraine, thinks the development of more professional farms will become more important for the industry: "The future of Ukrainian potato growing lies in professional potato production and processing, with the development of medium and large farms. That is why professional potato producers are united in Association, the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers. An important area of development for the potato industry is to increase domestic potato processing, which is fully in line with the government's policy and the areas of support for Ukraine by international partners. The development of the processing industry will help to stabilize potato prices, improve the quality of potatoes grown, plan potato production in the long term, and engage micro and small producers in contract potato production."
"At the same time, the development of the industry is hampered by the lack of potato storage facilities. We estimate that there are long term storage facilities for 300,000 tonnes of potatoes, while there is a need for 1,400,000 tonnes. Financial support from international partners is crucial in this regard, as potato producers cannot make such investments on their own in the midst of the war. The potato processing capacity will determine the future of potato sector in Ukraine. The development of processing will require significant financial investments either direct or indirect."
Gordiichuk emphasizes the importance of aid from other countries: "We are very grateful to the international donors and partners for supporting potatoe growers in Ukraine. There are two that are most active: USAID Agro program, which is currently supporting five potato growers with investments in post-harvest handling and packing potatoes, and the RVO (The Netherlands Enterprise Agency) is supporting a project of Seed Potato Demonstration in the Chernihiv region," he concludes.
For more information:
Nick Gordiichuk
Agrico Ukraine
Email: [email protected]
https://agrico.com.ua/