In Kyiv on the 6^th of December was conducted the final IX International Conference «Doing agribusiness in Ukraine», which was organized by the Association «Ukrainian Agribusiness Club» together with the agency UCABevent. At the event, which annually gathers managers and owners of companies, Government representatives and international experts, were discussed the results of 2017 for the Ukrainian agrarian sector, the main regulatory changes, the trends and prospects for the development of domestic agrarian business for the next year.

The purpose of the event according to Taras Vysotskyi, General Director of Association «Ukrainian agribusiness Club», was the establishing a dialogue between business and government, because the cooperation between them is one of the main prerequisites for the agriculture development: «We jointly have to analyze the problems, determine the tasks, and most importantly - to deduce the formula for the rapid development of the agrarian sector. At the event, we paid attention to the most important issues for agribusiness, which significantly affect its further functioning and development», - comments Taras Vysotskyi. 

The event program consisted of 6 sessions devoted to the actual themes of 2017. During each session, the attention was focused on effective tools and development vectors for 2018. During the first session «Agribusiness 2018: Time to lift off», investment attraction, state support of the agro-industrial complex in 2018 and legislative initiatives to combat land raiding were discussed. Alex Lissitsa, President of the Association «Ukrainian Agribusiness Club», described the main preconditions for attracting foreign direct investment into the agroindustrial complex of Ukraine: «According to the statistics of foreign direct investment inflows for 2016, among the 20 largest European countries Ukraine is in 19th place, in Top 100 largest countries in the world - 57. Only 3% of foreign direct investments were directed into the agricultural sector. At the same time, 30% of investments (USD 190 mln) are in fact financial assistance from organizations such as the IFC, the EBRD. In order to improve Ukraine's position on the international market and increase investment incomes, we need to create our brand through targeted and integrated policies, the use of modern communication platforms and the involvement of experienced professionals. It is necessary to develop attractive objects for investments on our territory, form local clusters with brand which will be world-famous, contribute to synergy between strong sectors of the Ukrainian economy, for example, agro and IT, and solve the problem of human capital and labor migration», noted Alex Lissitsa .

Oleksandr Bakumenko, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations, described what the new state budget for 2018 provides for farmers: «Compared to last year, the agrarian budget has been increased. In our opinion, it should be based on the principles of long-term perspective and certainty. It is necessary that 70-80% of the budget be allocated to approved areas from year to year: quasidotations, financial support for compensation of equipment costs and farming. Other 20-30% of state support articles - to allocate on new pilot directions and, if they are effective, to increase the allocations.»

Oleg Kulinich, People's Deputy, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Land Relations of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relation, spoke of legislative initiatives to combat land raiding: «In the draft law, we propose to establish a mechanism for obligatory online verification of the fact if there are lease agreements previously concluded on one or another land plot. In addition, with the new bill, we establish that the registration of lease agreements, which exist only in paper form and which was made before 2004, must be digitized during the year by StateGeoCadastre and registered in the electronic cadastre», - commented Oleg Kulinich.

According to Olga Trofimtseva, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on European Integration, 2017 will be a record for Ukraine by the export level of agrarian products: «For 10 months of the current year the export of Ukrainian agrarian and food products reached USD 14.7 bln and has shown an increase of 22.7% or USD 2.7 bln comparing to the same period of the previous year. At the same time, imports grew by 8% and amounted to USD 3.6 bln. For a significant breakthrough of Ukrainian agrarian products to foreign markets in the years to come, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between business and the state. We actively open new markets, and business should take advantage of that.», - commented Olga Trofimtseva.

During the second session «Protection of agribusiness in turbulent times», methods of restricting double registration of land plots, active tools of protection against land raiding, effective ways of interaction with SFS and Jurisprudence on land disputes were analyzed.

The third session on «Investment opportunities for Ukrainian agribusiness» highlighted the important issues of investment in agrarian business and attracted leading specialists and companies that are working to attract funds in agriculture. In particular, the topics of key trends in agro-investment were discussed: «The uniqueness of investment projects in agribusiness is that they are at the intersection of various industries - directly production of agricultural products from raw materials to the product on the  supermarket shelf, infrastructure and logistics (linear, fluvial, sea transshipment assets, transport, machinery), energy, IT» - comments Inna Meteleva, Country Director in Ukraine, Investment group Charterhouse Corporate Partners.

During the fourth session «Sustainability as inevitable condition for growth», the conference participants had the opportunity to emulate business development experience in domestic and European companies Jamil Zakaraiev, Senior Financial Analyst, Kernel, spoke about the introduction of the principles of sustainable development in the company: «Sustainable development in our company began with the use of waste products, namely sunflower husking. We started to burn them for getting energy. We are currently using a range of activities that have become an integral part of our strategy. Our program includes social, economic and environmental measures aimed at improving the living conditions, society and business».

During the fifth session «New export horizons – breaking through», the world trends and new export opportunities for Ukraine were analyzed. «The basis of the sector strategy is three priorities - diversification of markets, products and exporters. In this way, we are trying to involve producers of all sectors in export supply», said Alexander Zhemoyda, expert of the Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

At the sixth session «Personnel vs. salary» crises connected with outflow of personnel from Ukraine and methods of overcoming them were considered. Experts argue that today the labor market in general and the agrarian sector is growing significantly, and competition between employers for qualified personnel is increasing. Tetyana Pashkina, HR-Expert at rabota.ua, said: «The number of officially registered unemployed skilled rural workers in Ukraine amounted to 11.2 thous. people or 3.3% of all registered unemployed. In general, in January-September this year, the average wage in agriculture amounted to 5858 UAH, which is 47% more than in the same period last year.»

Also at the event a number of workshops were presented simultaneously, such as: «Legal aspects of protection of agribusiness – manage your capabilities!» on legal protection of agribusiness, agro bankruptcy as a chance to restart production and the procedure due diligence as a tool for growth. «Increasing the profitability of growing crops» on how to save on protecting and nurturing field crops using integrated solutions, developing of agro-enterprises in Ukraine and management of mineral nutrition of crops, and «Consumer trends that affect the agricultural business» on how businesses should restore society's trust and build loyalty of consumers through the system of marketing and communications.