1st Ukraine Perspectives Talk “Assessing the challenges for agri-food public authorities”

30/04/2024

Ukraine's agricultural area is a quarter of the size of the entire European Union's. The share of agriculture in Ukraine's GDP is ten times higher than in the EU, and agricultural enterprises are thirteen times larger on average. Agricultural products from Ukraine make a significant contribution to food security at a global level. The potential for integrating the Ukrainian agricultural sector is huge: Ukraine's accession would strengthen the EU as a geostrategic agricultural and supply player.

At the same time, agriculture is one of the most heavily regulated EU sectors and harmonising with demanding regulations and standards is a major challenge for a country at war. And although agriculture is economically very important for Ukraine, it only invests a fraction of the EU average in the administration of this sector. The gap in agricultural funding amounts to 3.3 billion euros, according to Dr Oleg Nivievskyi, Dean of the Faculty of the Graduate Economics Studies at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Associate Professor, Associated Member of the Center for Food and Land Use Research at the presentation of his policy paper “Assessing the challenges for agri-food public authorities”.

The paper, which was presented at the Ukraine Perspectives Talk on 30 April 2024, underlines the scale of the challenges Ukraine faces in aligning its agricultural sector with EU standards. It also emphasises the importance of technical assistance from the EU in building administrative capacity and targeted investment in public institutions and infrastructure to facilitate the accession process.

The results of the paper were commented on by Prof Dr Sebastian Lakner, Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Rostock: Priorities and instruments for a smooth transition would have to be defined. For example, direct payments, which had already proved their worth during the enlargement in 2004, as well as nationally co-financed income support for Ukrainian farms and the establishment of a control system would be needed. With regard to environmental protection, he called for simpler and more effective requirements.

The participants discussed the public debate in Ukraine regarding compliance with EU agricultural standards, the progress of administrative services since the Association Agreement and the effectiveness of the Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork strategy.

The event was moderated by Laura Christoph, research associate at the IEP, and Veronika Movchan, research director at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER, Kyiv).

Ukraine Perspectives is implemented together with the Ukrainian partner organisation Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER, Kyiv) and is funded by the planning staff of the German Federal Foreign Office.