Volume 126 - Issue 2

Comprehensive assessment of challenges facing Ukraine on its path towards EU accession must inevitably include identification of those faced by the Ukrainian agricultural sector. Here, it is necessary to adapt to the rules, norms, and standards of the European Union, especially in the cases of the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Green Deal, as well as to identify ways to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between all connected parties within agricultural value chains. Analysis of Ukraine’s Input-Output tables and turnover of goods and services undertaken by the authors of this paper reveals deep integration of Ukrainian agriculture within the global economy. Dynamics of Ukrainian agri-food exports in 2014-2023, analysed according to the product structure and geographical directions, demonstrate stability of volumes and shares of exports to the EU, both in the pre-war period and currently – in conditions of a full-scale war. Furthermore, the study confirms the economic implausibility of most of the claims made recently by Eastern European farmers regarding the extreme influx of Ukrainian agri-food products. Among the anticipated benefits for Ukrainian agricultural sector accruing from joining the EU are the sector’s potential greening and diversification, as well as the likely development of domestic agri-food processing and increase...

This paper examines the impact of the macroeconomic turmoil, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war (RUW) in Ukraine, on Ukrainian agroholdings. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine was a major global exporter of agricultural commodities, playing a crucial role in global food security and contributing significantly to the national economy. However, the outbreak of war in Ukraine brought with it unprecedented challenges such as loss of assets, damage to infrastructure, labour shortages and more. Despite these adversities, the Ukrainian agricultural sector remains resilient, attracting investment and maintaining its global presence in agriculture. This study aims to comprehensively analyse the resilience and vulnerability of Ukrainian agroholdings before and after these shocks. Our analysis shows different responses to the pandemic and war shocks, with agroholdings being resilient during the first shock but suffering significant setbacks during the second shock. These results underline the crucial role of the Ukrainian agricultural sector and provide valuable insights into its adaptability under turbulent macroeconomic conditions.

Rural local communities of Ukraine have faced serious socio-economic problems under theconditions of war. Among the most critical are the low level of entrepreneurial activity and pre-existing challenges related to the quality of governance. As a result, the resource potential utilisation of these communities has become less efficient, against a further backdrop of deteriorating human capital quality and investment attractiveness. All this creates a number of barriers to Ukraine’s further integration into the EU and limits the prospects for post-war economic development of its rural economy. This being so, it is advisable to focus on the implementation of managerial innovations that can enhance the efficiency of governance of rural local communities in Ukraine and facilitate their adaptation to EU institutional standards. Primarily, this concerns the implementation of modern project management tools, activation of cross-sector partnerships, application of effective territorial marketing and branding means, and the dissemination of democratic public administration practices, among other measures. At the same time, significant attention should be given to the educational component, which should ensure that the managerial competence of local self-government employees in rural local communities is enhanced as well as stimulate the entrepreneurial activity of their residents. This will enable Ukraine to attract...

Agriculture is a leading sector in the Ukrainian economy, providing a significant share of export revenues and guaranteeing the food security of other countries. However, the war with Russia has profoundly challenged the sector, which now faces the following problems: insufficient financial resources to ensure the production of agricultural products; reduced fertiliser use; crisis in animal husbandry sectors; labour shortage; destruction of the infrastructure for production, processing and storage of products; environmental threats; and insufficient attention on the part of the EU to the environmental component in support programmes. Different support programmes have been created to ease the challenges above, and these are analysed by the paper. In light of the country’s prospective EU membership, the paper proposes the following solutions to ensure safe and high-quality production of Ukrainian food: budget financing, effective taxation, a fair price policy, soft loans (in particular for organic farming), grant support, and new subsidy programmes.

This paper reveals the nature and extent of the damage inflicted upon Ukraine’s agrarian sector by Russian military actions, as well as the pre-existing deficiencies that have adversely affected its functioning during wartime. Proposals from governmental institutions, researchers, agricultural producers’ associations, and civil society may be categorised into three potential postwar reconstruction scenarios: maintaining its pre-war predominantly raw model, enhancing investment attractiveness, and strengthening the orientation towards sustainable development. The potential consequences of implementing each identified model for economic entities in agriculture and for society in the progression towards European Union membership have been outlined. This paper contends that transition towards development based on contemporary (innovative) principles of agroecology is essential for creating resilient local and, consequently, national agricultural and food systems. Meanwhile, the role played by different categories of agricultural producers utilising agroecological practices in enhancing the resilience of agrifood systems and the main directions for promoting the dissemination of these practices have both been revealed. The practical significance of the research results involves the possibility of their implementation in developing a coordinated version of the post-war reconstruction and the further development of Ukraine’s agrarian sector, the defining feature of which should be an approach that aligns with the...

This paper examines the impact of the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict on agricultural trade, focusing specifically on the surge in maize exports from Ukraine to Hungary during the marketing year 2022/23. The conflict has significantly disrupted maritime trade routes, particularly affecting export logistics of Ukraine. The study analyses shifts in trade patterns and market dynamics associated with these disruptions, emphasising that these changes appear temporary and do not pose a continuous threat to grain markets of EU member states neighbouring Ukraine. The findings underscore the importance of safe and adaptive logistics in maintaining market stability amidst geopolitical tensions.