July-August is an active time for choosing seeds for winter sowing. The market for this product has intensified today and the farmers of Ukraine have plenty to choose from. If in 1991 1895 varieties were registered in the State Register, then as of January 1, 2019
In particular, the number of winter wheat varieties increased by 11.7 times, corn and sunflower without parental components - by 21.8 and 45.2 times, respectively, barley - 7.3, feed - 2.1, technical - 6 , 8, vegetables and melons - by 9.6 times.
There have been changes in the structure of the State Register of varieties. the share of domestic varieties was 47%, today it is 44%. In the winter wheat segment, our varieties yielded by 8%, but still continue to dominate with the indicator of 72%, but in the group of varieties of corn and sunflower, the collapse almost doubled.
By grades of industrial crops, we slipped from 73% to 24%, potatoes from 59% to 41%, but by varieties of fruit and berry crops we grew from 54% to 85%, decorative, essential oil and medicinal from 41% to 91%.
However, the varietal quantity revolution did not lead to a quality revolution. Agrarians, flattered by the loud name and brilliant characteristics of the variety, lose a year or two to understand that they were slipped with an awl in a bag. Despite the repeated increase in varietal composition in the Register, the grain yield over the past 27 years has increased by only 20%.
The seed industry of Ukraine totals 596 subjects of seed production, 47 plants, which annually produce 2-3 million tons of seeds. The total market capacity is about 26.4 billion UAH. NAAS institutions remain a key player in the seed market, their share is 60%, but production volumes have decreased. If in 2013 68 thousand tons of seeds were produced and 47.6 thousand tons were sold, then in 2018, 42.6 thousand tons and 27.8 thousand tons, respectively.
That is, not only production indicators, but also marketability fell. Seeds of Ukrainian origin are also in demand in Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan. Last year, this product was exported to these countries for $ 11 million. At the same time, $ 484 million was imported, and the cost of the exported seeds is twice as high as that of the imported one.
Changes in the structure of imports also occurred, if in 2013 18.3 thousand tons of sunflower seeds were imported, and corn - 47.9 thousand tons, then in 2018, imports of sunflower seeds increased to 29.9 thousand tons, and corn On the contrary, it fell to 35.8 thousand tons.
In 2018, winter wheat seeds exceeded demand by 855 thousand tons, winter barley by 250 thousand tons, spring barley by 325 thousand tons, buckwheat by 24 thousand tons, but there were enough peas, corn, and sunflower. The negative seed balance of these crops was respectively minus 38.2 thousand tons, 70.4 thousand tons, 9 thousand tons.
