How Ukraine “have stirred the pot” with organic porridge?

A new record was set in Ukraine. The biggest amount of cereal porridge was cooked from the certified organic products only. The record was set at the Largest Agricultural Exhibition of Eastern Europe AGROPORT West Lviv 2018.

The topic of “organic products and their perspectives in Ukraine” became the keynote of the event. Its level and relevance of the topic of organic products was emphasized by the important guests- the exhibition was attended by the President of Ukraine, heads of relevant industries ministries, heads of several Ukrainian regions, foreign delegates, as well as thousands of farmers, producers and other people involved in the field.

The exhibition lasted three days on April 19-21. The first two days were held at the Danylo Halytskyi International Airport Lviv, and the record was set on the last final day on the special demonstrational field. The dish was 3285 kg weight, or 3900 liters in volume. Farmers and companies from all over Ukraine gave their products to prepare buckwheat porridge with meat and mushrooms. To collect such an amount of buckwheat, the van (truck) made two thousand kilometers. From Poltava region, for example, one and half tons of organic buckwheat (there were 1225 kg only used to prepare the dish) and 100 liters of organic sunflower oil were delivered. Kharkiv provided 300 kilograms of organic onion, the Kiev company – three kilograms of organic black pepper and half a kilogram of organic laurel leaf. Farmers from Lviv, Volyn, Ternopil, Vinnytsya and Zhytomyr regions provided organic: 20 kilograms of mushrooms, 100 kilograms of carrots, almost 500 kilograms of meat (veal, beef and pork), 15 kilograms of garlic, 50 kilograms of butter, as well as canned meat, lard and greens. A huge, three-meter in diameter pot (kettle) was brought from Ternopil.

20 chefs, the members of the Western Chief Group Association, which includes the best chefs of Lviv restaurants, all together with a great effort were working on the preparation process. Totally there were almost hundred chefs involved in cooking process, and preparation of all the ingredients lasted almost a week. At the same time several people were mixing cereal with special paddles and it was literally very difficult process as four of the paddles got broken.

– This record is in fact a significant job, not just the cooking itself, but the whole process of preparation. Essential, difficult and well-organized job, – mentioned the head of the National Register of Records of Ukraine – Ms. Lana Vetrova, who officially recorded this achievement.

By the way, it could easily claim to the world record of cooking dish just from organic products, but this required a few months of formal preparation. And there was lack of time to do that. Moreover, this is the biggest amount of boiled buckwheat porridge for today.

Of course, this record is not an end in itself, but the way to attract the attention of society and those governmental decision makers to the question concerning organic goods production. This consumer- and land-friendly as well as ecological way of producing goods, according to the point of view of the organizers of AGROPORT West Lviv 2018 fair and the AGROPORTEX.bio project leaders, should become the main one in Ukraine. By the way, these products have a huge demand in the world and our country has a huge potential: black earths reserves, where you can yield good harvests without using any harmful chemicals.

– Assuming the fact that in Ukraine there is 40 million hectares of the land are for the agricultural use, only 1% of it is under organic farming. This is not enough, considering our European neighbors, where in some countries this number reaches 10% from the total area of agricultural land. It is expected that in Ukraine the area under organic will increase and within 3-5 years will reach at least 500 thousand hectares, – said Ms. Olga Trofimtseva, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on European Integration.

According to experts, Ukraine must take advantage of global trends. This is our chance significantly to change life in the countryside. Indeed, small and medium sized farmers have much more chances in the organic sector, than big agricultural holdings. Actually, all questions related to organic farming (climate change, technology, financial instruments, legislation) and rural development were discussed at the AGROPORT Forum West Lviv 2018; strategic sessions were held at the same time with the exposition. In general, 12 conferences were held with the participation of representatives from 15 countries. Farmers and representatives of the united territorial communities could take on the best world experience (shared by guests from France, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Turkey, etc.) and discuss their questions. Only by mutual efforts small agricultural producers can solve problems of certification, storage, transportation of agricultural products, etc.

– Agroport Ukraine long ago went beyond the size of just an agricultural exhibition and today this is the wide support oriented system for the producers. We are trying to improve the awareness of farmers, to give new knowledge, to demonstrate the best technology, – says the head of AGROPORT UKRAINE, Mr. Dmytro Tytarenko. – We have an opportunity to show how this process is organized by the world leader producers, and how should we help to the Ukrainian farmers to arrange it.

During this international event the President of Ukraine, Mr. Petro Poroshenko mentioned, that a farmer itself, in particular, feeds Ukraine, an now when we are joining the international markets he feeds Europe, as well. That’s why our country should provide a farmer with proper support and protection.

– Now we are winning European market, and as large agricultural businesses have been already introduced there for a long time, then my job as the President is to support small and medium-sized producers: to provide tools, including financial ones, to create certain structures that would advise and teach the farmers. We have to combine the best in the world Ukrainian lands with advanced European technologies. The result of this Forum should be creation of such supportive tools, – said Garant.

By the way, at the exhibition a lot of Ukrainian developments, in addition to foreign technology, were presented: domestic technics, which suite the best for our soils, unique plant protection products and fertilizers that are suitable for the organic production in the Western regions of Ukraine, as well as innovative agro-IT projects.

A useful tool for promoting farmers’ produce on the international market is going to be the mobile application called AgroportEx.bio without which the organization of a National Record would be impossible. This development is introduced by Ukrainian specialists and will work on the international level helping farmers to find buyers for their products both in the domestic market and abroad without intermediaries.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

AGROPORT UKRAINE (agroport.ua) as International Agricultural Forum is a part of the official UN calendar and takes place with the support and participation of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). It has been occurred already for five years and this year to be held in three regions of Ukraine: Western, Southern and Eastern, in order to be closer to a farmer and consider regional peculiarities.

AGROPORT West Lviv 2018 was supported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and Lviv Regional State Administration. It was organized by the Department of Agricultural Development of Lviv Regional State Administration and Aviabrand LLC. More than two hundred participants from all over the country took part in the exhibition, and more than 7000 thousand people came as visitors – from Lviv, Volyn, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, from other regions as well. Only for the 5th anniversary of AGROPORT UKRAINE, a new project – "Ukrainian Trypillya" – has started up. The practical part of the exhibition was the opportunity to check the presented products in action: on the fields of the village Skniliv was conducted test-drive of off-road cars and agricultural machinery. Also the Farm Fair and the Street Organic Kitchen Festival was organised here setting of a new organic record were held as well.

The next regios which will take over the event will be Kherson (AGROPORT South Kherson 2018, July 26-28), and Kharkiv – (AGROPORT East Kharkiv 2018, October 11-13).