Ukraine: A Country of Contrast
Dec. 11, 2002
Editor's Note: Michele Payn-Knoper recently visited the Urkraine to do some sales training and market development with ag retailers. This is the first of a two-part series on her visit.
Golden wheat fields stretching as far as the eye can see . . . tractors working side-by-side in magnificent sunflower fields . . . 200 acres of sun-ripened tomatoes representing the quality of hybrid genetics. Probably not what one would expect from a former Soviet state, right? Let's try some different scenes; villages surrounded by half-acre 'farm plots' . . . elderly people sitting out on streets all day trying to sell their produce . . . counterfeit crop input products running rampant on the black market.
These contrasting scenarios are all true in the Ukraine; large farms like many in the U.S. and small plot owners barely etching a living from the land. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent market collapse in 1998, the Ukraine has become a country of stark contrasts. It remains the bread basket of Eastern Europe, blessed with a rich black top soil that would make any of us envious. However, many Ukrainian entrepreneurs struggle with developing a viable infrastructure for agriculture.
Fragmented Market
Ukrainian agricultural retailers deal with this fragmented marketplace every day, facing challenges difficult for American businesses to conceive. Could one imagine doing business in a cash-only economy with $200 million of bad debt in agriculture, few potential employees with real farm experience, and a 36 to 50 percent interest rate on bank loans? That's the only business environment most Ukrainian ag retailers have known since starting their businesses in the last five years.
What's similar? Success is measured the same around the world in agriculture sales
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