Ukraine sat on the Russian potato needle
The massive exodus of people from the villages of Ukraine led to a drop in the volume of potatoes grown on private plots - and in the entire volume of production. Ukraine is forced to import potatoes, mainly from Russia, which has sharply increased its production in recent years.
Vice-President of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers Sergei Rybalko stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“If we look at our Ukrainian statistics, they have lost any reality today. The data related to potato growing does not correspond to reality at all. And this leads to officials at the highest levels making the wrong conclusions.
Today Ukraine is positioned as the fourth potato producer in the world, we have 21 million tons, we are respected, we have achieved great results. In fact, these statistics have not changed for 10 years. And a lot has changed during this time. Over the past 4 years, many young people have left the village. Those who were engaged in growing potatoes stopped doing so. Potatoes grown on private plots have ceased to be a commodity.
Of the 21 million they are talking about, according to my observations, 60% can be taken away. Moreover, out of these 21 million tons we throw away and use approximately 13-14 million tons as livestock feed,” the expert noted.
According to his estimates, the volume of consumption now amounts to 3-4 million tons, of which about 2 million tons are grown, and the same amount is sold. Thus, the market volume is about 2 million tons. Of this volume, more than 500 thousand tons were imported last year.
“If our deputy minister says that Ukraine imported only 1,2% of what we produce, this is a big lie. Ukraine has become a net importer of potatoes. 25% of potatoes sold in Ukraine are imported. We stopped exporting potatoes altogether; we became an import-dependent country.
If everything continues in this direction at this pace, in the near future we may become an even more import-dependent country,” noted Sergei Rybalko and added that the main suppliers of potatoes are Russia and Belarus.
“We have repeatedly told the president that we are import dependent on Russia. Whatever we say about Russia, over the past five years, both Russia and Belarus have made several serious programs for their agricultural producers. Russia imported 800-900 thousand tons of potatoes, today they import 350 thousand tons. But they export about 600 thousand tons.
Russia has become a net exporter. They grew because preferential conditions were created, today they are no longer there, but the producers worked in them for five years and developed to such a scale that they could produce enough,” concluded Sergei Rybalko.
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