“Investments in agribusiness" - the topic of a guest lecture for students of the EP "Management of Investment Activity and International Projects” by Pavlo Koval the general director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation

The Production and Investment Management Department has a good tradition of inviting practitioners to meetings with students and encouraging them to share their own experience. This is very important for a number of reasons. First, guest lecturers help students to see how theory is applied in real life. Secondly, such meetings give young people the opportunity to establish contacts with practitioners, and this opens prospects for future cooperation - internship or work. In general, guest lectures from practitioners are an important element in the educational process, which stimulates the development of professional thinking among students, helps to expand knowledge, skills and perspectives for the future career.

On March 5, 2024, a guest lecture was held for students of the master's degree in the educational program "Management of Investment Activity and International Projects" and the bachelor's degree in the specialty "Management" by the General Director of the Ukrainian Agricultural Confederation, PhD (Economics) Pavel Koval on the topic: "Investments in agribusiness : the third year of the war and the prospects of European integration". The meeting was organized thanks to the initiative of the guarantor of the master's educational program, doctor of economic sciences, professor, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Lidiia Shynkaruk and professors of the Production and Investment Management Department.

Pavlo Koval is a highly qualified specialist, a member of the Agricultural Economics Society. He has experience in the development and implementation of agricultural projects, as well as experience in practical management of domestic enterprises, including agricultural holding. In the beginning of the meeting, he asked the masters whether any of them were writing projects in the agricultural field and what problems they were having with the preparation of such projects. This became the basis for highlighting and discussing the peculiarities of agricultural production and the possibilities of attracting investments in agricultural projects.

Moving from the problems of the micro-level to the macro-level, students got acquainted with the structure of capital investments by sources of financing, as well as the dynamics of their changes in the country in recent years. It was noted that one of the main challenges and limitations for the agricultural industry of Ukraine in the conditions of a full-scale war is the lack of financial resources for the stable economic activity of agricultural producers, in particular due to the increase in the cost of production. Another factor that has a negative impact on investments is the mining of rural areas. of land, which may affect future investments in the agricultural sector and infrastructure, as investors may refrain from investing in an unstable region.

Pavlo Koval summarized that the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation led to a significant drop in the inflow of both capital and direct investments into the agricultural sector. The decrease in direct investment is primarily due to a decrease in the volume of investments through equity instruments, which can be explained by investors' fears.

At the same time, new opportunities for attracting financing in the agricultural sector appeared. Thus, in 2023, the country's budget received UAH 4.8 billion (USD 132.0 million) from the IBRD loan as part of the project "Acceleration of Investments in the Agriculture of Ukraine".

In the end of the meeting, the students were introduced to the prospects of European integration, investment and the "Plan for the implementation of reforms within the framework of the implementation of the proposal of the European Commission regarding the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the creation of the Ukrainian Fund for 2024-2027". In this context, the students and the lecturer actively discussed the possibilities of exporting agricultural products and the problems of blocking the borders of Ukraine.

Meetings of this format help students to dive deeper into the world of practice and future profession. Therefore, we do not stop, but plan new guest lectures that will allow us to make studying at the educational master's program "Management of Investment Activities and International Projects" even more interesting and useful!

Tatiana LOBUNETS,
Associate Professor of the Production
and Investment Management Department

Translated by Kateryna ALEKSEIEVA