Danubius International Conferences, 12th International Conference The Danube - Axis of European Identity

Potential and Opportunities for Agro-Cluster Development in the Danube Region: Ukrainian Vision

Yaroslav Kichuk, Oleg Rubel, Alina Zhihareva
Last modified: 2022-06-27

Abstract

Organization of a large-scale sector (cluster) of organic agriculture in the Danube region involves large and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, farms, private households that use land massifs of different sizes for commodity production. For such agro enterprises, fundamentally different schemes for the introduction of environmentally oriented agricultural systems are needed. The use of small plots of land will allow organic farming even within the boundaries of the relevant areas of the nature reserve fund. In large farms the most realistic thing is the implementation of ecologically oriented agricultural systems in the schemes, which implies the consistent development of land plots or the allocation of specialized areas of activities, such as organic fodder production, animal husbandry, crop production.

The main objectives of the regional agro-environmental policy in the Danube region should be:

- the development of regional specialization, which will allow to rationally use the developed natural resource potential, to create conditions for ecologically efficient use of agroecosystems, their reproduction and protection;

- the widespread introduction of biotechnologies and non-waste technologies in agriculture, ensuring the production of environmentally friendly products;

- the solution of social problems involving the employment of able-bodied population, creating objects of ecological infrastructure in rural areas, raising the level of material well-being of rural residents.

Ukraine needs to foresee a number of actions within the framework of the Program for the Development of Organic Production in the Danube Region, namely:

- to determine the development of organic production as an integral part of rural development policy;

- to create a competitive environment in the organic production sector;

- to reorient the program of budget support from the current to the long-term support of organic agriculture;

- to establish institutions for the standardization of certification and the labeling of organic products;

- to ensure the scale of the organic production and industrial processing sector of environmentally friendly raw materials;

- to promote the formation of consumer demand, channels of implementation and creation of an internal market of environmentally friendly products;

- to harmonize the legal framework for the development of international trade in organic products.

The doctrine of innovation, sustainable development of the regions, and above all its «engine» – a cluster mechanism – must be based on the understanding that this process can be developed only with the interest of business entities, and not just officials or parliamentarians. It should comprehensively stimulate the stereotype of careful attitude to natural and productive resources, the motivation of scientific and technological creativity. World experience shows that innovation cannot develop independently under difficult market conditions. In all countries the government and local authorities make significant efforts to create the conditions for the maturation of innovative projects and clusters, since they understand that their fruits will then become a source of prosperity for the entire economy. The criterion for evaluation, indicators of the success of the state innovation program and its legislative framework should be an increase in the export of modern products, saturation of the domestic market with competitive domestic products, improvement of the ecology and public health in the country, an increase in the material and social well-being of Ukrainians.