“We are aiming to increase our role in Ukraine’s agriculture sector,” Gerald A. Steiner, vice president of U.S.-based Monsanto, said at a briefing on Aug. 31.

Monsanto President Hugh Grant was also in Kyiv for the visit, which included meetings with President Viktor Yanukovych and Agriculture Minister Anatoly Prysyazhnyuk.

Monsanto sells corn and rapeseed seeds in Ukraine under the DEKALB brand.

Steiner said introducing Monsanto’s seeds along with other farming techniques common in developed countries could help Ukraine increase its corn yield from the current 4 tons per hectare levels to European productivity of 7-8 tons per hectare.

“When we look at soil and climate conditions, Ukraine is very well set up” to become a top world corn supplier, he added. Ukraine is expected to surpass Brazil this season as the third-largest corn exporter worldwide.

Blessed with some of the world’s best soil and weather, Ukraine also ranks as a top global producer of barley, wheat, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil.

Monsanto is currently a large supplier of high-quality agriculture seeds in Ukraine, foremost for corn and rapeseed. The company first broke onto the domestic market in the early 1990s. It claims business has gradually increased since, but could surge if Ukraine realizes its full agriculture potential by opening the door more to investors and improving the investment climate.

The company could not give figures on the sales volumes it has registered in Ukraine during recent years.

Olena Fomina, head of Monsanto’s office in Ukraine, said the company occupied a 14 percent share in Ukraine’s corn seed market in 2010 and is going to increase it by 5 percent in 2011.

by Kyiv Post.