Leonid Kozachenko, President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, believes that Ukraine can increase its annual agricultural exports from $24.2 billion to over $100 billion by shifting from exporting raw materials to increasing the production of deeply processed products.
“We have the best opportunities among other countries, as almost 30% of the world’s black soil is concentrated in Ukraine. However, it is surprising that a country like the Netherlands, with 4.5 times less land, produces food and derivative products worth about 108 billion. They use less than 20% of their own raw materials, importing 80%, but rank 2nd or 3rd in the world, while we, with our raw materials, are only in the third ten,” he said at the “Profitable Agribusiness 2026” conference.
According to the expert, the total capitalisation losses of the agricultural sector from the Russian Federation’s military aggression are currently estimated at more than $120 billion, while direct losses amount to $11.5 billion. However, Kozachenko expressed confidence that if the genetic potential of plants and animals is realised by at least 90%, Ukraine will be able to reach production levels of 150 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, 25 million tonnes of milk and up to 10 million tonnes of meat.
To realise this potential, Ukraine needs to attract $85 billion in investment over the next 10 years. In particular, $37 billion should be allocated to the development of the food, pharmaceutical and perfume industries, $18 billion to livestock farming, $8 billion to crop production, $5.5 billion to bioenergy, and $10 billion to logistics, horticulture and greenhouse farming.
