Areas of plantations under fruit crops decreased by 63%
During the independence of Ukraine, the sown area under berries, melons and other fruits decreased by 63%. So in 1990-1991. laid 863.7 thousand hectares, then for the 2020 season this figure reached 323.0 thousand hectares. Superagronom.com writes about this in its article "30 years in numbers: major trends in crop production".
According to the publication, a decrease in the area of plantations led to a decrease in the production of fruits and berries by 30%, melons - by 38% (the production of watermelons decreased from 463 thousand tons to 400 thousand tons), and grapes - by 66% (from 457 thousand tons to 281 thousand tons). It is interesting to note that the production of melons increased by 61 thousand tons to 95 thousand tons in 2020, while in 1995 only 34 thousand tons were grown.
“The production of apples has increased over the past 15 years to 1,115 thousand tons, compared with 1,046 thousand tons in 1990. Among pome trees, the production of pears decreased, which were grown in 1995 by 247 thousand tons, and in 2020 - 152 thousand tons. Also during this time there is a tendency to increase production among stone fruit trees, for example, the cultivation of cherries increased (from 154 thousand tons to 175 thousand tons), plums (from 153 thousand tons to 173 thousand tons) , cherries (from 47 thousand tons to 64 thousand tons), but apricots decreased (from 97 thousand tons to 70 thousand tons). Among berry crops, there is also a positive tendency to increase production, ”the article says.
It also adds that the import of fruits exceeds export by several times. However, the export of Ukrainian fruits and berries has been growing in recent years as a result of an increase in demand on the external market. The export of fruits and berries over the past 10 years has grown from 977 thousand tons to 988 thousand tons in natural size, and in monetary terms - from 733 million dollars. USA to 796 mln. USA. The import of these crops was recorded at the level of 214 thousand tons in physical terms in 2010 and 156 thousand tons in 2020.