Improvement of the effectiveness of organic farming in Ukraine

Abstract

To improve the efficiency of organic farming, it is important to improve the management of agricultural enterprises (agrarian management). The research was based on the hypothesis that adequate provision with and the use of fixed assets, as well as the concentration of production, play a decisive role in improving the efficiency of organic farming. This makes it possible to minimize the cost of conducting environmentally safe agro-technical and biocenotic measures, as well as reducing specific production costs. To identify the reasons that hinder the development of organic farming in Ukraine we conducted a survey of managers of 80 agrarian enterprises from different regions specializing in the growing and export of grain (including organic). 65% of the surveyed managers indicated that the reason for non-implementation of organic production was an expected increase in production costs and a decrease in profitability compared to the traditional production methods. The respondents mentioned the lack of logistics infrastructure as the second obstacle according to the intensity of its impact – 25.9% of responses. It has been established that in Ukraine, in comparison with other countries, there is a negative tendency for companies to save money on expanded reproduction and improvement of production technologies. The analysis shows that in most countries organic farming is conducted mainly by small farms, while in Ukraine big farms are certified. In the conditions of the shortage of credit resources necessary for updating the material and technical base, monopolization of the market of organic seeds and systematic growth of prices on resources, big farms are the ones to increase the concentration of organic farming and the means to achieve the necessary efficiency of production.