The Status, Challenges, and Prospects for the Development of Animal Husbandry in Ukraine in the Context of Ensuring Food Security

The article substantiates the significance of animal husbandry as a key sector of the agro-industrial complex, which plays a crucial role in ensuring the country’s food security, creating jobs in rural areas, and developing related sectors, particularly crop production and processing industries. The article highlights the main challenges faced by domestic animal husbandry in the context of martial law, economic instability, limited funding, and global climate change. The dynamics of changes in livestock numbers and the production volumes of major types of animal husbandry products over the past two decades are analyzed in detail. Attention is drawn to the disparities in the development of individual sub-sectors of animal husbandry, particularly the growth of poultry farming alongside the simultaneous decline in beef, mutton, and wool production. Key problems of the sector are substantiated, including the aging of production infrastructure, low level of breeding work, limited feed base, pasture degradation, and high dependence on the import of veterinary drugs and feed additives. The reasons for the decrease in livestock numbers and animal productivity are revealed, and the regional features of animal husbandry specialization in Ukraine are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on the importance of preserving the biodiversity of animal breeds, which is strategically significant for the adaptation of the industry to new conditions and challenges. Prospective directions for the development of the industry are highlighted, including the implementation of energy-saving and environmentally sustainable technologies, the automation of production processes, the digitalization of farm management, the improvement of veterinary support, as well as the development of organic and innovative animal husbandry. The necessity of comprehensive State support for the industry, the activation of investment activities, and scientific research, particularly in the fields of breeding, feeding, veterinary medicine, and environmental safety, is outlined.