Analysis of changes in comfortable sunflower growing areas using the example of Ukraine

Abstract The article provides a comparative analysis of sunflower seed production in Ukraine, the EU and globally for the period from 2000 to 2021. The Ukraine’s share in the world sunflower production was found and analyzed. The analysis of the gross collection of sunflower seeds in the regions of Ukraine for two conditional periods (2000–2010 and 2011–2021) was carried out. Thus, during the researched period, the average yield increased from 1.04 t/ha in 2000 to 2.57 in 2021, i.e. by 2.5 times. It became possible due to the improvement and adaptation of cultivation technology and careful selection of sunflower hybrids that are better adapted to climatic changes. It was determined that the change in climatic conditions has affected the zones of comfortable sunflower cultivation in Ukraine. According to the yield index, during the first conditional period the central regions of Ukraine were in the lead (1.57 t/ha), and during the second period, the northwest regions of the country stepped up (2.83 t/ha). The above data suggest that the gradual change in sunflower cultivation technology and the search for new drought-resistant crop hybrids give hope that Ukraine will maintain its position in the world as a leader in the export of sunflower oil.