The Food from Ukraine platform symbolizes the expansion of Ukraine’s initiative from focusing solely on grain to finished products, as well as the transfer of knowledge and technologies, announced Oleksiy Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, at the opening of the IV International Food Security Summit “Food from Ukraine” in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Sobolev noted that Ukraine has already exported 5.8 million tons of wheat in the 2025-2026 marketing year, according to Open4Business.
“This is not just a figure, it is an indicator of the resilience of our agricultural sector, which operates despite destroyed infrastructure, constant logistical challenges, drone attacks, and daily risks,” the Minister emphasized.
He cited USDA forecast data, according to which wheat exports from Ukraine will amount to 15 million tons by the end of the season, which is approximately 7% of the global trade of this product.
“This confirms that Ukraine continues, despite everything, to be a reliable partner for the global food market. However, the issue of food security remains relevant and will only intensify. Ukrainian agrarians provide food for hundreds of millions of people in various regions of the world, from North Africa to Asia. Our country remains the guarantor of global food security, ensuring the stability of supplies of grains, oilseeds, and livestock products,” Sobolev noted.
As the Minister noted, Ukraine understands that the demand for food will grow most rapidly. In the coming decades, Sub-Saharan Africa, which currently imports more than two-thirds of its own food needs, will generate an increase of almost 14%. The average productivity of farms on this continent is only 40% of their potential, grain losses amount to up to 20%, and the mechanization density is only 2-4 tractors per 100 sq km, which is dozens of times lower than in Europe.
At the same time, he noted a strong reaction to these challenges from African countries, which are investing in irrigation, mechanization, the creation of agro-industrial zones, the localization of equipment production, infrastructure development, storage, and processing. According to Sobolev, this is not just modernization, but a strategic course towards self-sufficiency.
That is why one of the strategically correct decisions for Ukraine, according to the Minister of Economy, is the transformation of the Grain from Ukraine initiative into Food from Ukraine.
The Minister announced that Ukraine, within the framework of this initiative, will begin creating a network of regional food hubs. He presented a video presentation of the first project for such a logistics and processing hub, which is planned to be built in Ghana. Its basic infrastructural focus will be the storage, processing, and distribution of Ukrainian agricultural products, as well as the localization of modern technologies in West Africa.
«Ukraine ceases to be a political donor of food. We are becoming part of the architecture of a new model of global food resilience, a country that not only helps feed the world today but also creates mechanisms for innovative production tomorrow,» – summarized the Minister of Economy.
