Organic in Ukraine

Organic in Ukraine

Ukraine, having significant potential for organic production, export, consumption in the domestic market, has achieved some results in developing its own organic production. For example, the area of ​​certified agricultural land in Ukraine involved in the cultivation of various organic products is already over four hundred thousand hectares, and our country is ranked 20th among the world leaders in organic movement. The share of certified organic land in Ukraine’s total agricultural area is about 1%. At the same time, Ukraine occupies the first place in the Eastern European region in the certified area of ​​organic arable land, specializing mainly in the production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds.

In addition, 570 thousand hectares of wild animals have been certified in our country (as of 2017).

In recent years, there has been a tendency to actively fill the domestic market with its own organic products by establishing its own processing of organic raw materials. These include cereals, flour, dairy and meat products, juices, syrups, jam, honey, oil, teas, medicinal herbs.

The official IFOAM statistical surveys confirm that in 2002 there were 31 organic farms registered in Ukraine, in 2017 there were already 375 organic farms, and the total area of ​​agricultural land under organic production was 420000 hectares.

Figure 1. Number of certified organic farms in Ukraine

Source: According to IFOAM and the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine

Most Ukrainian organic farms are located in Odesa, Kherson, Kiev, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Transcarpathian, Lviv, Ternopil, Zhytomyr regions. Ukrainian certified organic farms – varying in size – from several hectares, as in most European countries, to several thousand hectares of arable land.

Table 1. The total area of organic farming. lands in Ukraine, 2002-2017

Source: According to IFOAM and the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine

Studies of the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine show that the modern domestic consumer market for organic products in Ukraine began to develop since the early 2000s, making: in 2004 – 100 thousand euros, in 2005 – 200 thousand euros, in 2006 – 400 thousand euros, in 2007 – 500 thousand euros, in 2008 – 600 thousand euros, in 2009 – 1.2 million euros, in 2010 – 2.4 million euros, in 2011 this figure increased to 5, EUR 1 million, up to EUR 7.9 million in 2012, up to EUR 12.2 million in 2013, up to EUR 14.5 million in 2014, up to 2015 up to 17.5 million euros, in 2016 – 21.2 million euros, and in 2017 – 29.4 million euros.

One of the complex issues of organic market development is the lack of regulation of the legal framework, which complicates the work of domestic organic producers. It should be noted that the Law of Ukraine “On Production and Turnover of Organic Agricultural Products and Raw Materials” adopted in 2013 is inactive (This Law is effective in Ukraine until August 2, 2019). After all, the provisions of the law are imperfect and do not comply with EU legislation in the field of organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products. This has a negative impact on the functioning of the domestic organic market, the image of the country in the world market “organic”; creates trade barriers for exporting producers; the consumer is not protected from falsification of “organic”, and the producer – from unfair competition.

However, at the request of this Law, a number of legal acts have already been adopted, but they also do not fulfill their regulatory function, namely:

CMU Resolution No. 980 of 30.09.2015 “On Approval of Detailed Rules for Organic Seaweed Production”.
CMU Resolution No. 982 of 30.09.2015 “On Approval of Detailed Rules for the Production of Organic Aquaculture Raw Materials”.
CMU Resolution of 10.12.2015 No. 1023 “On approval of the lists of input products that can be stored in the production unit”.
CMU Resolution No. 208 of 23.03.2016 “On Approval of Detailed Rules for Organic Production
(raw) beekeeping. ”
CMU Resolution No. 241 of March 30, 2016 “On Approval of Detailed Rules for Organic Production
(raw materials) of animal origin. ”
CMU Resolution No. 587 of August 31, 2016 “On Approval of Detailed Rules for the Production of Organic Products (Raw Materials) of Vegetable Origin”.
CMU Resolution No. 505 of 08.08.2016 “On Approval of the Procedure for Keeping the Register of Organic Producers (Raw Materials)”.
Ministry of Agrarian Policy of December 25, 2015 No. 495 “On Approval of the State Logo for Organic Production (Raw Materials)”, registered at the Ministry of Justice on January 19, 2016 under No. 99/28229.

As in the domestic market of Ukraine organic producers are not allowed to effectively work on the imperfection of the regulatory framework and “pseudo-organic” producers, and in the foreign market there are certain obstacles. In particular, there are Guidelines in the European Union for carrying out additional official controls on products originating in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. The same tight regulations were in place in 2016-2017.

In order to improve the principles of legal regulation of organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products and adaptation of the requirements of organic legislation to EU law, with the support of the public sector and experts of the organic market, the executive authorities adopted a new Law of Ukraine “On basic principles and requirements for organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products ”(No. 2496-VIII, which entered into force on 02 August 2018, shall enter into force on 02 August 2019).

First of all, the Law fully takes into account EU directives and regulations, which will allow to adapt Ukrainian legislation to the European one; requirements for production, labeling and circulation of organic products have been improved; provisions for assessing the suitability of land for the production of organic products have been removed, which is contrary to international practice; the principles of production certification have been radically changed; requirements for certification bodies, inspector for organic production have been significantly improved; responsibility for violation of legislation in the field of production, circulation and labeling of organic products, both for producers and certification bodies, etc. is specified. In particular, the introduction into circulation or sale of products without a certificate attesting the conformity of the production process and / or its circulation to the requirements of the legislation in the field of organic production, circulation and labeling of organic products or the requirements of the law of the country of origin of such products, entail a fine on legal entities in the amount of eight minimum wages, for individuals – entrepreneurs – in the amount of five minimum wages.

At present, experts of the working group under the Ministry of Agrarian Policy for the development of legislation in the organic sphere, which includes the experts of the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine, are working on the development of by-laws, which must be adopted within a year from the entry into force of the Law.

In addition, the State Target Program for Rural Development for the period up to 2015, which has already expired, declared to increase the share of organic production in the total gross agricultural output to 10 percent, which was certainly not achieved due to lack of support industry state.

Another document that focuses on the organic sector is the Strategy for the Development of the Agricultural Sector for the Economy until 2020, approved by the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine under No. 806-p. The strategy also identifies the food security of the state by promoting the development of organic farming, especially in the individual peasant and medium-sized farms, among the priority areas for achieving the strategic goals.