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15 січня 2025 р.

Let's create a nutty forsythia together

In total, today in Ukraine there are 14.1 thousand hectares of industrial walnut orchards. The main share of which is 7.9 thousand hectares of hazelnut orchards, about 6.1 thousand hectares of walnut orchards, about 0.15 hectares of almond orchards. The largest number of industrial orchards is grown in Kyiv, Zakarpattia, Odessa, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The smallest number of orchards is in the northern and eastern regions of Ukraine: Rivne, Chernihiv, Donetsk and Kirovohrad regions.

Let's create a nutty forsythia together


The term "foresight" (from the English. foresight, a look into the future) is becoming an increasingly popular innovative technology of strategic planning and forecasting. The essence of foresight technology is not to plan or make a long-term forecast, but to formulate guidelines for further development, to obtain the most objective picture of the future, in this case the nut industry, which meets the interests of gardeners.

The area of walnut industrial gardens is constantly increasing. For the sixth year in a row, the "lion's" share of the country's newly created industrial gardens, established with the help of State Support Programs for Horticulture, is made up of walnut gardens. For the period 2018-2024 (as of January 10, 2025), 15,444 hectares of gardens were established, of which 6,268 hectares are walnut gardens, or more precisely - 41% of the area of all gardens in the country.

Currently, the annual growth rate of new areas of walnut orchards established with the help of grants (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 738 "Some Issues of Providing Business Grants" dated June 21, 2022) is 49.6% and is higher than the growth rate of all newly created orchards, which is 44.2% in the horticultural industry.

Moreover, the dominant crop in the established nut orchards in recent years is hazelnut. Of the newly created 1,172 hectares of nut orchards, 95% are hazelnut orchards. Industrial hazelnut farming in Ukraine is a new direction, the mass launch of industrial hazelnut orchards began in 2014-2017, and is now rapidly gaining momentum within the framework of the already active development of the Ukrainian nut industry.

We predict that this stable trend in the establishment of hazelnut orchards will continue.

Moreover, the 2025 Budget provides funds for the continuation of the Horticulture Support Grant Program, which operates on the basis of Government Resolution No. 738. In turn, the current Horticulture Support Grant Program for past years (2022-2024) has proven its effectiveness and is quite actively used by gardeners when laying new gardens.

Judge for yourself, as of October 10, 2025, 255 grants have been issued for the creation of new gardens, the area of which is 3,350 hectares, for a total grant support of UAH 1.013 billion. Of which, 220 horticultural enterprises (86.3%) have already received UAH 846.1 million - this is 83.5% of the total amount of issued grants (see https://public.tableau.com/.../_16687835152330/Dashboard1 )

In order to improve the resolution, amendments and corrections were made to it several times. In particular, based on the proposal of the corporation "Vinnytsiasadvinprom" (General Director S. Boychuk) and the NGO "Ukrainian Walnut Association" (President of the association G. Yudin), the government significantly changed the procedure for creating new jobs for seasonal (temporary) workers, which was specified in clause 16 of the Procedure for providing grants for the establishment of horticulture, berry growing and viticulture of the CMU resolution 738. The new version of the CMU resolution 738 has already been published (see https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/738-2022-%D0%BF#Text ) and entered into force on 07.08.2024.

In total, today in Ukraine there are 14.1 thousand hectares of industrial walnut orchards. The main share of which is 7.9 thousand hectares of hazelnut orchards, about 6.1 thousand hectares of walnut orchards, about 0.15 hectares of almond orchards. The largest number of industrial orchards is grown in Kyiv, Zakarpattia, Odessa, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The smallest number of orchards is in the northern and eastern regions of Ukraine: Rivne, Chernihiv, Donetsk and Kirovohrad regions.

By variety of varietal base: to create industrial walnut orchards, varieties of Ukrainian and Moldovan selection are used. Very good yield indicators in the south of Ukraine in the walnut orchard of LLC "VOL-NAT" (manager Guk A.V., orchard area 95 hectares) have varieties of French selection Lara and Fernor. Also in the southern zone of Ukraine began to grow the American variety Chandler. But the main part of walnuts in Ukraine grows in households, in protective and forest belts, in roadside plantings. (The next article is planned on the issue of walnut harvesting, processing and export - author's note).

To create industrial hazelnut orchards, Italian selection varieties are more commonly used - these are mainly: Tonda of various names and classic European varieties Barcelona (Barcelonski), Catalan (Katalons`kyi). These varieties are oriented towards intensive cultivation according to international technical standards of their industrial use, have sufficient experience in cultivation, maintenance and processing in other "nut" countries.

Ukrainian-bred hazelnut varieties are more commonly used on small homestead plots and in summer gardening. However, the possibilities of creating industrial gardens from Ukrainian-bred varieties and new hazelnut varieties created by our breeders are currently being studied.

Modern industrial hazelnut farming in Ukraine is a new industry. The hazelnut market in Ukraine has several fundamental features.

On the one hand, this is a recent and not yet widespread direction of horticulture, so the Ukrainian school of growing profitable industrial hazelnut orchards is being created today based on the experience gained in operating orchards. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO), in 2022, only 210 tons of hazelnuts in shell were produced in Ukraine. But now hazelnut orchards are entering the phase of commercial fruiting, and more and more offers for the sale of small batches of hazelnuts are appearing on the Ukrainian market.

On the other hand, for the growing dynamics of industrial hazelnut orchards, the next logical step is to enter the global nut market. The first "pen tests" on hazelnut exports have already taken place: in 2022, 63.1 tons of hazelnuts in shell (inshell, code 080221) were exported, in 2023, 54.6 tons were exported, and in 2024, hazelnut exports amounted to 142 tons.

At the same time, the Ukrainian hazelnut consumption market is constantly growing. So far, Ukraine is a net importer of hazelnuts. The table clearly shows the annual growth of hazelnut imports over the past 10 years. The peak of hazelnut consumption came in the pre-war year 2021 - 1484.2 tons of hazelnut kernels, shelled (code 080222), were imported to Ukraine, which approximately corresponds to 4 thousand tons of hazelnuts in the shell.

And today, after a temporary decrease in hazelnut consumption in the first war year, despite a significant decrease in the population of Ukraine during these war years, demand for hazelnuts is growing - 993.3 tons of shelled hazelnut kernels (code 080222) were imported to Ukraine in 2024. In addition, add to this the already significant growth of domestic hazelnuts harvested in industrial orchards.

The growth of hazelnut consumption in the country is greatly helped by the flagships of domestic industrial hazelnut production, the company "FILBERT" (Odesa region) and LLC "KONTINENT" (Transcarpathia), which have created deep processing of hazelnuts at their own enterprises and the production of a line of hazelnut confectionery products, and have developed their sale through the country's retail chains.

But what will happen to hazelnuts in Ukraine in 2-3 years, when domestic orchards reach full fruiting? What is the capacity of hazelnut consumption in Ukraine? Will it not depreciate, like walnuts?

How can we more effectively develop and distribute Ukraine's nut capabilities on foreign markets together? What tools should be taken into account to strengthen the export capacity of the nut industry, and what consumer trends should be guided by in the further development of hazelnut processing?

What equipment is best for harvesting hazelnuts? Where to buy it? What equipment is subject to state compensation?

We plan to discuss these questions and many others at the first WALNUT SEMINAR of this year, which is organized by the Ukrainian Walnut Association on February 12 online.

An electronic registration form for participation in the seminar will be published soon, based on which a link to connect will be sent to all future participants, the PROGRAM OF THE WALNUT SEMINAR is being prepared for publication.

See you online on February 12, dear nutcrackers.


President of the Ukrainian Walnut Association G. Yudin




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