The beginning of the tomato story: Development of vegetable growing in Odessa region discussed

On July 11th, a meeting was held at the Odessa Regional Military Administration to discuss the development of vegetable farming in the Odessa region.

The meeting was chaired by Alla Stoyanova, the Director of the Department of Agricultural Policy, Food and Land Relations of the Odessa Regional Military Administration. During the meeting, participants discussed the consequences of the explosion at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station and its impact on vegetable farming in southern Ukraine, as well as how to create conditions for the development of tomato cultivation and tomato processing in the region.

Alla Stoyanova mentioned that currently, the internal demand for vegetables in Ukraine is partially met through imports. She provided an example that before the large-scale invasion of plastic greenhouses in Ukraine, crops were grown on an area of 8-9 thousand hectares, while in the Antalya region of Turkey alone, vegetables are grown under plastic cover on an area of 430 thousand hectares. As for the Odessa region, vegetables are cultivated on an area of 1,489 hectares, including 476.6 hectares of tomatoes, 307.1 hectares of onions, 95.11 hectares of carrots, 81.87 hectares of cabbage, 22.75 hectares of cucumbers, and 434.44 hectares of other vegetables.

A representative of PJSC "Chumak" also participated in the meeting. He mentioned that the company has plans to relocate processing facilities from the Kherson region to Odessa. He added that this move would create almost five thousand new jobs. Odessa was chosen for several reasons, with one of the main factors being the climatic conditions.

Alla Stoyanova emphasized that Odessa has enormous potential, both logistically and naturally. 

-  And if Odessa is now observing the growth of a small watermelon in the fields of the "Sim Agro Yug" enterprise, then perhaps very soon, we will witness an interesting story with the best Odessa tomato - concluded Alla Stoyanova.

Previously, we reported that the enemy attacked one of the grain terminals in Odessa using drones.