Growing of organic fruit in Ukraine and in the world

The latest annual report “The World of Organic Agriculture-2018” published relevant information concerning the world’s organic production. The main statistical indicator here is the area under organic crops. In total, organic production is carried out by 178 countries. According to the results of 2016, the area of organic agricultural land is 57.8 million hectares, of which about 400 thousand hectares are located in Ukraine. By this indicator we rank 20th in the world. Certified organic areas occupy about 1% of the agricultural land in Ukraine.

With regard to global organic production, stable increasing is recorded for the areas under fruit and berries. According to the data for 2016, the total area of perennial plantations in the world exceeds 4.5 million hectares, including 56 thousand hectares of various organic berries, 9 thousand hectares of strawberries, 255 thousand hectares of pome fruit and stone fruit, 83 thousand hectares of apples, 15 thousand hectares of pears, 23 thousand hectares of apricots, 16 thousand hectares of sweet cherries, 16 thousand hectares of plums, 11 thousand hectares of peaches and nectarines, and 574 thousand hectares of nuts.

Organic growing of fruits, berries and nuts is gaining in popularity in Ukraine. General dynamics also shows the gradual growth of areas under perennial crops. Now they occupy 5000 hectares in Ukraine. Under the pome and stone fruit is 2500 hectares, berries – 630 hectares, strawberries – 170 hectares, walnuts – 290 hectares, hazelnuts – 40 hectares, other nuts – 50 hectares.

Moreover, many organic fruit and berries are exporting. In 2017, ukrainian producers exported organic frozen blueberries, fresh apples, elderberry, birch sap, walnut kernels, sea buckthorn, frozen blackberries, dog-rose, strawberry, cranberry, hawthorn and raspberries, as well as apple concentrate juice. The main consumers of such organic products from Ukraine became the countries of European Union.

Ukraine is in the beginning of the formation modern organic growing of fruit, having great potential here, because domestic and global organic markets show steady growth. There are large areas (over 7 million hectares) of clear lands in Ukraine for making organic production remain unoccupied. Organic products, especially fruit and berries, are in greatest demand in the EU, the USA and Canada. Therefore, the most prospective at present for Ukraine is the focus on the cultivation of organic fruits (apples, berries, nuts, etc.), which are traditional in our country and are popular all over the world.