Competitive Agriculture or State Control : Ukraine's Response to the Global Food Crisis
World market prices for grains and oilseeds have risen dramatically over the last 24 months. Despite a recent drop, wheat prices are still about twice what they were two years ago. Given the underlying causes, this situation is likely to persist fo...
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Format: | Policy Note |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9858058/ukraine-competitive-agriculture-or-state-control-ukraines-response-global-food-crisis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19522 |
Summary: | World market prices for grains and
oilseeds have risen dramatically over the last 24 months.
Despite a recent drop, wheat prices are still about twice
what they were two years ago. Given the underlying causes,
this situation is likely to persist for the medium term
(International Food Policy Research Institute-IFPRI and
World Bank projections use a time horizon until 2015).
Rising food prices are causing significant hardship
worldwide and threatening to cast large numbers of people
into poverty. However, the current situation is a major
opportunity for Ukraine, a net grain exporter with a
significant exploitable yield gap and one of the few
countries in the world that are in a position to
significantly increase net exports and make up for emerging
deficits elsewhere. With appropriate policies and
investments, Ukraine could significantly increase its grain
harvest and gain global market share in an environment of
rising global demand. Even relatively conservative estimates
of growth in yields and acreage indicate that a regular
harvest of over 40 million tons will be possible. Seizing
this opportunity will require a shift in policies and
corresponding increases in private and public investment.
Ukraine is in a position to make a significant contribution
to the international effort to deal with the food crisis,
while providing attractive investment and employment
opportunities in the agriculture sector (in rural areas)
that are expected to yield significant income, trade, and
fiscal benefits. |
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