The international group of companies DroneUA took part in an expert discussion devoted to the innovative strategy of Ukraine and overcoming obstacles in the technological development of the Ukrainian Agro-Tech and Food-Tech sectors. The event took place within the Dood Governance Fund project "Ecosystem of Innovative Technologies".
During the meeting, together with representatives from both state and private enterprises, startups, and organizations, we managed to develop a shared understanding of the main problematic areas in the domestic agricultural sector that require urgent solution:
- firstly, ukrainian agribusiness lacks structured data, both at the level of individual farms and at the national level. This concerns the accounting and condition of land, data on changes in their quality and fertility over time, expenditure, and material-technical provision, among other things. Over the past two years, farmers have been limited in the full use of precision farming tools, including the inability to conduct multispectral analysis using drones;
- secondly, there is a low culture of digitization and digitalization. Systematic work in this direction can currently be observed mainly in large-scale agribusinesses;
- thirdly, there is a lack of accessible financial instruments that could be directed towards innovation;
- finally, the critical need for human resources will become even more acute over time.
Analyzing prospects and looking for solutions, experts agreed that it is flexibility and speed in decision-making that is a sign of a business that is ready to grow. With this in mind, the following development vectors were singled out:
- quick adaptation, implementation of the European course with deep modernization of the normative and regulatory base and "green" approaches. The domestic agricultural sector is counting on gradualism, but it is worth preparing for decisive and categorical actions;
- full automation, robotization and digitization of production processes. The human resource leaves the "working hands" area, reorienting itself to the process administrator;
- resource saving, climate preservation, precision agriculture;
- formation of strategic alliances between business and government structures, to achieve maximum understanding and development of a joint action plan.
Based on the dynamics of previous years, Ukraine has acquired thorough expertise and best experience in the integration of innovations in agricultural production. However, the domestic agricultural sector needs a comprehensive vision of development directions from the state to strengthen its capabilities on the world stage. As of today, the issue of development of normative and regulatory instruments remains neglected, as well as the formation of a favorable business climate.
We express our sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, as well as for the support from UK International Development for the initiative in creating a communication platform between business and government institutions. The project implementation partners are Abt Britain and KPMG in Ukraine.
