The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, by its order No. 387 dated November 25, 2021, included strawberries in the list of crops that, in order to register new varieties in Ukraine, need to be tested for difference, uniformity and stability within 2-3 seasons. Thus, they will become inaccessible to farmers.

This is reported in the association "Ukrsadprom".

“In order to register and protect a new plant variety, the applicant must prove that the candidate variety is excellent, uniform and stable. That is, the breeder needs to order and pay for a rather complex and lengthy examination conducted by an independent, accredited body - a specialized experimental station," commented Oleg Bosoy, owner and managing partner of the domestic fruit nursery "Frutek".

Previously, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy accepted information provided by the applicant based on the results of testing new varieties of fruit and berry crops, including garden strawberries, if it was carried out in member countries of the interstate association UPOV (Union internationale pour la Protection des Obtentions Vegetales - International Union for the Protection of New Varieties). plants). Membership of Ukraine in this interstate association began in 1995 and continues to this day.

So it was enough for the applicant to submit information about the results of the relevant testing and pay a small fee for the processing of this information by a specialist from the Ukrainian Institute for the Expertise of Plant Varieties. Under such conditions, the registration of a new variety, from the moment of filing an application until the appearance of a new variety in the Register, took only a year and a half.

“However, recently, for unknown reasons and without warning, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Ukraine included garden strawberries in the list of crops that must be re-tested at domestic experimental stations. Prior to that, only cereals and vegetables were on the list. That is, today garden strawberries are the only perennial crop on this list,” said Oleg Bosoy.

According to him, in the next 3-4 years, Ukrainian farmers will need to forget about new varieties of garden strawberries.

After all, formally a variety is allowed for circulation only after the completion of its registration process, which will last three times longer, and the qualification examination of the variety will also cost the breeder much more.

It is also not allowed to import planting material of new varieties not yet included in the Register into Ukraine.