Status and prospects of soybean production in Ukraine

Abstract

The study is devoted to a topical problem, namely, the study of the state of soybean production in Ukraine with the recommendations given on the prospects for increasing sowing and gross harvests of seed products on the world market. The purpose of the research was to study the current state of domestic soybean production based on statistical data with a generalization of the recommendations of leading scientists. The implementation of the goal will contribute to solving a number of tasks related to providing vegetable protein, forming national protein and grain resources, increasing soil fertility and strengthening the economic potential of Ukraine. It has been established that in the conditions of Ukraine, interest in soybean is growing in all soil and climatic zones: the soybean field is expanding, it is fully included in the crop rotations of the main agricultural regions – Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions. In Ukraine, in 2024, the largest sown areas under soybeans were in Poltava (215 thousand ha), Khmelnytskyi (212 thousand ha), Zhytomyr (150 thousand ha), Vinnytsia (143 thousand ha) and Kyiv (140 thousand ha) regions, which together accounted for almost 50% of the sown areas under this crop in Ukraine. It was found that in terms of production volumes, soybeans occupy first place in European countries, eighth in the world, and have the best prospects for increasing production and forming a significant export and resource potential. An analysis of statistical data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine provided an opportunity to study the dynamics of soybean sown areas, its yield and gross seed harvest in Ukraine. Thus, in the structure of domestic production during 2015–2024, soybean sown areas increased significantly, and the yield level increased to 2.60 t/ha. Soybean acreage in Ukraine exceeds 1.8 million hectares. A positive trend has been identified, which is evidence not only of the high interest of farmers in growing this crop, but also of the strategic importance of soybeans in shaping modern agrarian policy and developing the country’s export potential.