Exports of fruits and vegetables from Poland annually give the revenue of $ 2.5 billion. For comparison, Ukraine exports fruits and vegetables 10 times less – only $ 250 million of revenue as a result.
It has been reported by Andriy Yarmak, the economist of FAO investment department.
According to him, Ukraine has three times more farmlands than there are in Poland.
“Even Moldova (which has 23 times less land) has slightly higher score than Ukraine on this indicator and the gap is likely will continue to grow. For the last five years Moldova has increased exports by 64%, while Ukraine has reduced it by 23% “, – said the expert.
According to him, investments in marketing became the main advantage of Moldova and Poland on the market of fruits and vegetables.
“Yes, indeed, situation in trade is far from ideal. In Poland, the situation is slightly better, but even there, according to local experts, much less than half of the production corresponds to the high-quality requirements from demanding EU markets. Moldova is just at the beginning of this path, but even in such matters as handling and packing of products it is already ahead of Ukraine “, – says Andrey Yarmak.
He added that during a recent tour to Poland, where he studied the fruit exports practices, he saw relatively small gardens – from 5 to 25 hectares. The yield of apples were up to 100 t / ha (on average – about 65 t / ha), storage and sorting on the whole were quite standard. But the foundation of the success for many farmers is the ability to sell.
“The owner of one of the farms, except for gardening, was also engaged in trade. So, while the others were waiting for the best price without having storages, he actively and successfully was looking for markets for his products. Other farmer said that he grew mainly pears, the price of which has always been relatively stable. When compared to the prices for apples the demand for pears was always higher, but relatively few farmers cultivated this culture, because it was technologically more difficult than growing apples “- said Andrey Yarmak.
