Nearly 6 million Ukrainians visited wholesale markets of agricultural products

The government continues to implement the "State target program on creation of wholesale markets of agricultural products" (WMAP). Such markets are popular both among the population and among the producers of agricultural products. Thus, the markets Stolychnyi in Kyiv, Shuvar in Lviv, and Hospoda" in Donetsk have attracted more than 5.5 million Ukrainians for 3 years of operation. And almost 40,000 citizens managed to visit new market Azov, opened in Mariupol in 2013. Over 353,000 producers have sold their products there. They have sold 1.7 million tons of agricultural products, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reports.

According to agrarian experts, such figures once again confirm the effectiveness of these facilities and the need to develop WMAP network throughout Ukraine. "For the third year there are wholesale markets of agricultural products in Ukraine, supported by the state. As of today, four markets have already started their work. And in total 12 entities have got WMAP status. And it is envisioned that in the long term WMAP network will cover the entire territory of Ukraine," Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, said.

It is worth mentioning that in June 2009 the Cabinet approved the "State Target Program on creation of wholesale markets for agricultural products". The program included creation of a network of 25 wholesale markets of agricultural products across Ukraine. The declared cost of the program is 4 billion UAH, of which 1.2 billion UAH is planned to be appropriated from the State Budget.

Under the program in Ukraine in 2009 Lviv market Shuva was reorganized to receive the status of the wholesale market of agricultural products, in 2011 two wholesale markets of agricultural products were created, Stolychnyi in Kyiv and Hospoda" in Donetsk. In 2012, construction of five more agricultural markets was completed: in Odessa, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. At the end of 2013, the first phase of the new wholesale market of agricultural products Azov opened in Mariupol. 27 million UAH was allocated for its construction from the state budget. Upon completion, the market area will total 10 hectares.