Farming is no longer a boring occupation: young people and top managers become farmers. They grow not only a «borscht set», but also unusual vegetables, berries, greens and spices, which are becoming more popular among residents of large cities. The volumes of such a crop are relatively modest and not all farmers has got well yield. "Mind" has studied four farmer novelties that the consumer is trying to acquaint with. What has been done well and what not by Ukrainian farmers?
Who grows plants and how much? One of the latest trends in fruit and berry farms in Ukraine is the cultivation of blueberries. The leader was the Zhytomyr region - 400 hectares were allocated there for this culture. Also large areas of berries planting in Volyn and Kiev regions.
Last year, on the Ukraine was collected more than 1300 tons of this berry - almost 25% more than in the year before last. According to the estimates of APK-Inform, the total areas of blueberries in Ukraine are more than 1000 hectares, which is almost 1.5 times more than, for example, raspberries.
For whom? More than 85% of blueberry produced in Ukraine is exported. The main buyers are the Netherlands, Belarus, Poland, Austria and the United Kingdom.
How much is necessary to invest? To plant a hectare of blueberries, it will take $ 10 000-20 000. The first commercial harvesting of berries is possible in the third or fourth year. Then will be ability to have harvest for 50 years. From 1 hectare you can collect up to 12 tons of berries.
How much can you earn? The cost of growing of a kilogram of blueberry is 10-15 UAH. At the same time, in the retail season, blueberries are sold at 250-350 UAH per kilogram, the wholesale purchase price is from 80 UAH per kilogram.
What are the prospects? To satiate the domestic market, according to the founder of the kennel «Brovyan» Liliana Dmitrieva, you need about 6000-8000 ha. Experts believe that farmers will reach this level in five to six years.
Blueberry - clealy «marketing» berry. It is new to the market, fashion for it was formed recently, but it is still not grown enough. In addition, unlike strawberries / raspberries, it has relatively long shelf life - up to a week. And it lends itself well to freezing - not so affects the appearance and taste qualities, as, for example, in strawberries.
Who grows and how much? Over the past five years, Ukraine has tripled the area allocated for growing asparagus. According to «APK-Inform», now farmers cultivate this vegetable on the area of 70-80 hectares. Last year, Ukraine harvested about 120-150 tons of asparagus.
For whom? Main buyers are supermarket chains. But they have large quantities of purchases - from 500 kg. To offer such volumes, the farmer needs to grow asparagus on the area not less than 5 hectares. Small batches are delivered to restaurants and farm stores.
How much should I invest? The cost of seedlings per 1 hectare is about $ 8000-10 000. «The first industrial harvest can be collected in two years, the return of investments from 5 hectares - in five years», says Yuri Marchuk, owner of the farm «Sadovod». He took 5 hectares under this culture.
How much can you earn? From one hectare the farmer collects about 50 kg of asparagus per day. Wholesale price per kilogram is 100 UAH. Harvest from May to June, shoots must be harvested every two days in warm weather (for a day the sprout grows by 10 cm). Yield in the first years is 30-50, in the next - 70-100 q / ha.
Asparagus, grown in Ukraine, is twice cheaper than imported. 450 grams of imported asparagus in retail is sold for 170 UAH, a kilogram grown in Ukraine costs 180 UAH.
What are the prospects? Annually not less than 1200 tons of asparagus is imported in Ukraine - it means that local farmers can at least ten times increase their volumes. But much more promising is the EU market. The EU countries annually purchase an additional 50,000 tons of asparagus on the foreign market. And this is almost 330 times more than the total harvest of asparagus in Ukraine.«At the same time, the consumption of asparagus is increasing every year by 10-15%. But for export it is necessary to reach large volumes of deliveries, to certify products and solve logistics issues», - said Tatyana Getman, an expert of the fruit and vegetable market of Eastern Europe.
Who grows plants and how much? Microgrin - sprouts of alfalfa, broccoli, sunflower, peas, onion, mustard, amaranth, arugula and radish at the age of 7 to 14 days. Experts even can not approximately calculate the market volumes. No one tracks the direction - it is new niche for Ukraine. «Cultivating possible not only for the classic farmers, enthusiasts can grow Microgrin at home, so the calculation of the volumes of the market is really difficult. In each major city there are several manufacturers, we see it in competition with such customers as restaurants», - says Natalia Ryzhkova, founder of the company «Microgran».
For whom? Customers - supermarket chains, restaurants (mainly for decorating of the dishes), the main direction - vegetarian cafes and shops, as well as some food delivery services. The company «Microgrin» - the only one whose products are represented in the supermarket chain. The company cooperates with the network «Silpo».
How much should I invest? For growing, you need a greenhouse and a special irrigation and lighting system: different seeds germinate at different temperatures. At the initial stage, the area is not so important - it is a shelving system. «The area of our premises is 200 square meters. m, shelving in four or five tiers, but we are already lacking in capacity - we are looking for a bigger room, «Ryzhkova says. The company «Microgrin» daily collects 30-50 kg. Harvest - all year round.
How much can you earn? The cost of sprouted plants - from 25 to 40 UAH for a 50-gram package. «Profitability can reach 50%. It all depends on who your client is, if you adjust the system sales at retail - to go on such a profitability really», - says Anton Dundi, chairman of the farm cooperative «Family welfare»
What are the prospects? «We started business in 2007. It was difficult - they did not know anything about this product. They sold small lots to restaurants to declare themself. Now Ukrainians know about Microgrin. Healthy food is a fashionable trend», - says Ryzhkov. «The market is in its infancy, but it develops very rapidly», says Andrei Dundi. The farmer is going to start growing Microgrin soon.
Who grows plants and how much? Last year almost three dozen farms in the Kherson region planted «Crocus Sativa» as an experiment. From this plant make the most expensive spice in the world - saffron. According to the organization UHBDP (engaged in the development of fruit vegetable growing in Ukraine - Mind), which supported this experiment, the plant was planted on 0.5 hectares.
In one of these farms - OOO «Agrofocus» - for the cultivation Crocus Sativa took 20 hectare. «From the first harvest 1.5 kg of saffron were collected. But they sold only 50 grams, the rest - distributed», the company reported. Farmer Oleg Demchenko planted Crocus Sativa on 5 hectare and collected 250 g of spices. He managed to sell the whole harvest.
For whom? Spice is mainly bought by confectionery and restaurants from Kiev, Kharkov and Lviv in small batches: saffron is packed in 1-2 g, weight 5 g is already a wholesale purchase. «The cultivation of saffron is promising, but you need to find the sales market. Ukrainian restaurants do not need large quantity of this product - there is not so developed a high-level kitchen», - says Tatiana Getman.
How much do you need to invest? To plant 1 hectare, you need from 20 000 to 30 000 euros of investment, and then you will be able to collect from it 6 to 20 kg. Each such landing then yields a harvest for seven to eight years.
Saffron blossoms in the autumn two or three weeks, each flower - for two or three days. Collect flowers should be at dawn, until they have not opened. Spices makes from the flowers stigma - they must be taken out for three hours after the opening of the flower. To get 1 kg of spice, you must manually collect at least 100,000 flowers and pull out about 400,000 thin red hairs.
How much can you earn? In Ukraine, farmers sold saffron at $ 5 per gram. Saffron grown in the EU costs 12-15 euro/g, in Iran and India, where flowers are collected massively - $ 1.5-2/h. But the cost of a super quality spice can reach $ 65 per gram. In the world about 300 tons of such seasoning are grown. The leader in cultivation is Iran, it produces about 90% of the spice.
What are the prospects? While cultivation of saffron in Ukraine is of an experimental nature. But the climate and soil in the south for this plant came up. For example, Oleg Demchenko this year increased the area for saffron five times - up to 25 acres. He expects to earn not only on spices, but also on selling planting material.
Source: mind ua
