“Coordinated Work of Farmers and Affordable Loans”: This Year’s Grain Harvest Is a Record in Ukraine’s History

Record 44.8 million tonnes of grain were harvested from 10.2 million hectares.

A record amount of early grains and legumes — 44.8 million tonnes — was harvested in Ukraine this season. This was reported by Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko.

We look at what results Ukrainian farmers achieved in 2021 and what they attribute the growth of agricultural production in Ukraine to, amid crop failures in other parts of the world.

Record Performance

The minister said that this season’s yield forecast was met by 100% — a record amount of grain was harvested from 10.2 million hectares.

Roman Leshchenko
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine

The harvest of early grains in Ukraine has been completed. On 10.2 million hectares, which is 100% of the forecast, 44.8 million tonnes of grain were threshed. The harvest is a record in Ukraine’s history.

He added that 32.8 million tonnes of wheat were threshed. The highest yield was achieved by agricultural producers in Khmelnytskyi Region — 65.2 centners per hectare. 10 million 94 thousand tonnes of barley were threshed. Kyiv Region leads with 57.2 c/ha. 570 thousand tonnes of peas.

The minister also said that Odesa Region leads in grain threshing with more than 4.1 million tonnes. Three million tonnes of grain each were threshed in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions.

In addition, Leshchenko noted that rapeseed harvesting has already been completed and more than 2.8 million tonnes of seeds were threshed. The highest rapeseed yield was in Khmelnytskyi (35 c/ha) and Cherkasy (34.2 c/ha) regions.

What contributed to the high harvest

Leshchenko said that coordinated work by farmers, this year’s favorable soil and climate conditions, as well as an expanded state support program for the agricultural sector were of great importance in achieving these results.

The minister noted that in the first 7 months of 2021, farmers received 546 million hryvnias as partial compensation for the cost of domestic agricultural machinery and equipment, 565 million hryvnias under the state program for loan cost reduction, and more than 26 billion hryvnias under the “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” program, for refinancing previously obtained loans, capital investments and as anti-crisis loans at 0% to replenish working capital.

According to him, for the first time Ukraine’s agricultural sector has received such a volume of “affordable financial resources” for conducting business activities.

Roman Leshchenko
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine

This support has already borne fruit — in the most literal sense! Therefore, our Ministry will do everything possible to expand this support to 1% of GDP and calls on the Ministry of Finance to keep the “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” program for the next calendar period.

The minister concluded that, given crop failures on other continents, the global price situation is favorable for Ukraine’s agricultural products and strengthens the state’s role in global food security. 

According to the forecast, this year the agricultural sector may generate more than half of the state’s foreign currency revenue and account for one-fifth of Ukraine’s GDP.