ANALYSIS OF NUMBER DYNAMICS IN LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY: TRENDS AND CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

Livestock farming is a strategically important industry in the agricultural production and an important factor in national food security. The paper considers the main trends towards changes in the number of livestock and paultry by region over the past 30 years. A number of positive and negative trends in the development of livestock and poultry have been identified. A detailed analysis and assessment of the main trends in the development of the livestock farming industry of the Volyn region in particular has been conducted. The share of Volyn region in the total gross agricultural output of Ukraine is almost 3 percent. The actual state of the livestock industry requires additional attention and support from the state. To date, the industry has not been able to reach the number of livestock of 1990–1991. In 1991, there were 24623.4 thousand head of cattle in Ukraine, while in 2020, it is 8 times less – only 3092.0 thousand. At the same time several regions of Ukraine (Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Rivne, Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy regions), including the Volyn region, saw increase in poultry farming. The analysis reveals that the number of poultry in Ukraine decreased from 246104 thousand heads in 1991 to 220486 thousand in 2020. While the number of poultry in the Volyn region increased from 3704.2 thousand heads to 7759.5 thousand heads. For the period from 1991 to 2020, the number of cattle, sheep and goats in the Volyn region decreased by 13.4% and 12.6% correspondingly. The number of cows decreased from 312.7 to 80.4 thousand, and the number of horses decreased from 41.3 to 33.4 thousand. The share of livestock (%) in the Volyn region within the total state production has increased for all species except sheep and goats. Almost 15% of all horses in the state are in the Volyn region. It is established that the total livestock in the Volyn region in 2020 decreased by 3 times compared to 1991. The calculations of the theoretically possible amount of manure produced by livestock within the Volyn region have been made and recommendations for increasing the production of organic fertilizers have been given. Estimated amount of accumulated manure within the Volyn region constituted 7700.9 thousand tons in 1991, while in 2020 it was 2206.8 thousand tons.