Black earth - Agribusiness in Ukraine and the marginalisation of rural communities
Publisher: CEE Bankwatch Network
Volume: 33 pages, pdf
Description:
Ukraine is known as “the breadbasket of Europe” because of the chernozem, the thirty million hectares of extremely fertile and high-yielding black soil. This incredible national wealth is also the reason for the significant interest from private agribusiness companies and international investors, who nowadays consider Ukraine a strategic partner in addressing global food security. Ukraine's signing of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area as part of the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, the USD 17 billion loan package from the IMF and the fact that agriculture was the only sector of the economy to register growth last year6 have further focused the attention of both investors and the Ukrainian government on speeding up sectoral reforms.