World market prices for grains andoilseeds have risen dramatically over the last 24 months.Despite a recent drop, wheat prices are still about twicewhat they were two years ago. Given the underlying causes,this situation is likely to persist for the medium term(International Food Policy Research Institute-IFPRI andWorld Bank projections use a time horizon until 2015).Rising food prices are causing significant hardshipworldwide and threatening to cast large numbers of peopleinto poverty. However, the current situation is a majoropportunity for Ukraine, a net grain exporter with asignificant exploitable yield gap and one of the fewcountries in the world that are in a position tosignificantly increase net exports and make up for emergingdeficits elsewhere. With appropriate policies andinvestments, Ukraine could significantly increase its grainharvest and gain global market share in an environment ofrising global demand. Even relatively conservative estimatesof growth in yields and acreage indicate that a regularharvest of over 40 million tons will be possible. Seizingthis opportunity will require a shift in policies andcorresponding increases in private and public investment.Ukraine is in a position to make a significant contributionto the international effort to deal with the food crisis,while providing attractive investment and employmentopportunities in the agriculture sector (in rural areas)that are expected to yield significant income, trade, andfiscal benefits.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
