By Tatiana V. Deribon

National AGRIS-FAO Resource Centre – Ukrainian Institute of Scientific-Technical and

Economic Information (UkrINTEI), 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine, agro@uintei.kiev.ua

Abstract 

The task of the paper is guiding the international reader by the main sources of Ukraine’s agrarian information (AI) and agrarian information resources (AIR), for the first time quantifying them and thus providing evidences on the fact that Ukraine, an agro-industrial country and a newcomer to FAO, is a full-right player on the field of AI. The paper contains abundant factual and analytical data and in doing so given are structures involved in generating the AI as well as the titles of agrarian periodicals and continued editions and book publishing statistics. The separate AIR state is touched on and it is concluded that there is the acute need in applying more intensive information management to Ukraine’s AI and AIR both at the level of a single institution and the national one.

"One cannot seize immense"
Kozma Prutkov,
a three Russian writers’ union

 1 Introduction

 The idea of presenting Ukraine’s agrarian information potential (AIP) to the international agrarian community has come to me much earlier yet it has been realized just now, in 2005. It was dictated to me, the national AGRIS/CARIS coordinator, i.e. a person whose interested sight examines national agrarian information (AI) in all its fullness, by a simple obstacle that this AI, while being processed for the purposes of AGRIS, always gives rise to thoughts that Ukraine is a country famous, in positive sense, not by its fertile chornozem reserves and intellectual potential only, but it is also extremely rich in its agrarian information. Quite the opposite, since the early 90-ies until recently Ukraine was present in world context as a country known by such key words as “Chornobyl”, “corruption”, “FATF list”, radar units”, “French seating” etc. By this paper I would like supplement such Ukraine’s recent phenomena as “the Orange Revolution”, “the Klychko brothers” and “Ruslana” with a brief characteristic of its agrarian information wealth. And this global EFITA/WCCA event is an appropriate opportunity to present the AIP of Ukraine, a large European agro-industrial country, “a food basket”, which still remains a kind of “terra incognita” in many senses for the rest of the world.

 The terms "agrarian information" (AI) or “agrarian information resources“ (AIR) are being used here in the broadest, common for FAO, sense, and mean information on agriculture, food, forestry, fishery, water management and aquaculture, environmental protection, and other related issues.

 Since Ukraine had joined FAO’s AGRIS/CARIS system in 1995, the situation in the field of AI in Ukraine has strikingly improved. Now it is a country where such up-to-date notions as “ICT”, “Internet”, “web-site”, “portal fever”, “software”, “computer fleet”, “CD-ROM”, “DVD”, “e-mail”, “database”, “electronic catalogue”, “E-government”, “the Information Society” (=free information access) … and “FAO membership” reflect Ukrainian realities.

2 Ukraine's agrarian information generators

The following numerous structures can be ranked among those involved in generating Ukraine’s agrarian information: the President of Ukraine (decrees, orders etc.); Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's Parliament) (laws, statements etc.); the Government of Ukraine, in particular Ministry (Min.) of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine (=Minagropolityky), Min. of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (=Minekolohiyi), Min. of Education and Science of Ukraine (MON)); the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences UAAN); AGROOSVITA, Ukraine’s Agrarian Education System, uniting oblast higher education institutions, in particular 20 state agrarian universities (DAU) and academies (DAA), other educational institutes, colleges, their libraries); AGRONAUKA, Ukraine’s Agrarian Research System, headed both by UAAN, total of UAAN’s 73 research institutes and 65 research experimental stations, other research institutions and, reserves, botanical gardens, their libraries etc.; State Food Department (Minagropolityky); State Fishery Department of Ukraine (Minagropolityky); Research institutions of the system of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NAN); State Forestry Committee of Ukraine; State Committee for Land Resourñes; State Committee for Water Management of Ukraine; State Statistics Committee of Ukraine; State Department of Intellectual Property (MON); State Standardization Committee of Ukraine; State Hydrometeorology Committee of Ukraine; national, oblast and other specialized; commercial companies; commodity exchanges; international projects; NGOs; others.

 Such a diversity of structures determines the main principle of functioning of the National AGRIS Resource Centre in this country: interdepartmental cooperation.

 The information published in Ukraine takes form of journals' and continued editions’ papers, monographs, materials of conferences (symposia, workshops), patents for inventions etc., whereas unpublished information (Ph.D. and D.Sc. theses and their abstracts, scientific reports, current research etc.) becomes "grey literature".

 The AGRIS/CARIS Categorization Scheme (the AGRIS/CARIS rubricator), an AGRIS/CARIS tool dividing the agrarian information field into 17 rubrics (categories), came to a country, Ukraine, with the developed information infrastructure (an integrated part of the FSU’s STI system, so-called DSNTI), with its rubricator still in force. Ukraine’s agrarian information relates mainly to the enlarged rubrics as follows: 06. Economy (06.71. Sectoral Economy Structure (06.71.07. Agricultural economy; 06.71.59. Water management economy; 06.71.63. Environmental protection economy)); 34. Biology; 37. (37.21. Meteorology; 37.23. Climatology; 37.25. Oceanology); 55. Machine building (55.57. Tractor and agricultural machine building; Food industry machine building; 55.65. Trade and catering machine building); 59. Instrument–making industry; 61. Chemical technology. Chemical industry; 62. Biotechnology; 65. Food industry; 66. Timber and woodworking industry; 68. Agriculture and Forestry; 69. Fishery. Aquaculture; 70. Water Resources Management; 76. Medicine and health care; and 87. Environment Protection. Human Ecology.

 At present the AI and AIR texture in Ukraine, like elsewhere, is extremely heterogenous. With advent of the Internet a plethora of this country’s IR “went into virtuality” with or without paper-based analogue. Databases (DB) (local, regional and national), a corner stone of the Soviet theory of scientific and technical information yet in the 70-80-ies, are experiencing “blossoming” in Ukraine. Yet paper-based editions and libraries, where they are held, in a common opinion, keep the position of the main information base in the Ukraine’s information support system. So, the analysis undertaken is to cover both traditional information and existing Web-resources, often interlaced.

3 Publishing activities in Ukraine

Despite the general situation in this country, where until recently the publishing business has been facing severe tax pressing as compared to neighbouring Russia and Belarus, one could count more than 100 journals and continued editions on the aforementioned topics being published in Ukraine. For presentation thereof chosen is an approach simple but visual one. Listed below as an enumerated list of titles (which, in defiance of the rules, are translated for the reader’s convenience and put in the alphabetical order, to give the reader an idea about topic thereof, with the foundation year stated for some of them), these editions vary by their purposes: purely scientific or scientific and production, scientific and practical etc. Among them there are both “old” and “merited” editions dated to the 50-70-ies (and even 1889), which stood the test of time, and quite “young” ones, mainly editions of higher education institutions (Ukrainian scientists often experienced lack of sources to be published in). No doubts, first, the speedy development of ICT in Ukraine has greatly contributed to the revival of publishing activities, as well as, second, the Law of Ukraine “On the state support of book-publishing in Ukraine” (No. 601-XV as of 6 March 2003) and the Law of Ukraine “On amending certain Laws of Ukraine as to the state support of book-publishing in Ukraine” (No. 1300-IV as of 20 Nov 2003).

Part 1. Ukrainian agrarian periodicals. 1. Advances in Science and Engineering (Engg.) of the Agro-Industrial Complex (AIC); 2. Agriculture; 3. Agrochemistry and Soil Sc.; 4. Algology; 5. Animal Biology; 6. Animal Husbandry of Ukraine; 7. Animal Production; 8. Apiary; 9. Biopolymers and Cell; 10. Bulletin (Bull.) of Agrarian Science (Sc.); 11. Bull. of Biology and Medicine Issues. 12. Bull. of Land Use Organization; 13. Bull. of Poltava State Agricutural (Agr.) Inst.; 14. Bulletin of Shevchenko Kyiv National Univ. Biology Series; 15. Bull. of Sumy State Agr. Univ.; 16. Zoology Bull.; 17. Cytology and Genetics; 18. Economy of Agro-Industrial Complex; 19. Economy, Finances and Legislation; 20. Economy of Ukraine; 21. Engg of Agro-Industrial Complex; 22. Environment Protection against Anthropogenous Load. 23. Feeds and Feed Production; 24. Finances of Ukraine; 25. Fishery of Ukraine; 26. Food and Processing Industry; 27. Forest and Hunters’ Journal. 28. Grain Storage and Processing; 29. Issues of Cryobiology; 30. Issues of Ichtiology; 31. Issues of Improving the Productivity of Animal Husbandry. 32. Garden, Grapes and Wines of Ukraine; 33. Meteorology, Climatology, Hydrology. 34. Microbiological Journal; 35. Sea Ecol. Journal; 36. Offer: Ukr. Journal on Agribusiness Issue; 37. Physiology and Biochemistry of Cultural Plants; 38. Plant Protection; 39. Plant Physiology; 40. Plant Protection and Quarantine; 41. Potato Growing; 42. Reports of the National Acad. of Sc. of Ukraine; 43. Storage and Processing of Raw Agr. Materials; 44. Sugar Beet; 45. Vet. Medicine of Ukraine; 46. Vet. Sc.; 47. Ukrainian Beekeeper; 48. Ukr. Biochemical Journal; 49. Ukr. Antarctic Journal; 50. Ukr. Botanical Journal; 51. Zootechny.

Part 2. Ukrainian agrarian continued editions. 52. Agrarian Bulletin of the Trans-Black Sea Region*, Odessa; 53. Agricultural Machinery*/Lutsk State Eng. Univ., Lutsk, 1999. 54. Animal Rearing and Genetics; 55. Beekeeping**/UAAN. Inst. for Beekeeping., Kyiv, 1964; 56. Bulletin of Grain Farming Inst./UAAN. Dnipropetrovsk, 1956; 57. Bull. of Agr. Microbiology/UAAN. Inst. of Agr. Microbiology., Chernihiv, 1997; 58. Bulletin of Agrarian Science of the Trans-Black Sea Region*/Mykolayiv State Agrar. Acad., Mykolayiv, 1999; 59. Bull. of Bila Tserkva Agrarian Univ.*/Agricult. and Food Ministry., Bila Tserkva State Agrar. Univ., Bila Tserkva; 60. Bulletin of Lviv State Agr. Univ./Min. of AIC of Ukraine., Lviv; 61. Bull. of Kharkiv State Agr. Univ.*/Kharkiv St. Agr. Univ., Kharkiv, 1997; 62. Economic Problems of Resource Potential Development in the AIC of Ukraine*/UAAN. Inst. of Agr. Economics., Kyiv, 1999; 63. Food Industry**, Kyiv, 1965. 64. Plant Protection and Quarantine**: /UAAN. Plant Protection Inst., Kyiv, 1964; 65. Coll. of Sc. Papers of the Inst. of Agriculture/UAAN. Kyiv, 1996; 66. Coll. of Sc. Papers of Luhansk Agricultural Institute/Min. of AIC of Ukraine, Luhansk, 1997; 67. Horticulture**/UAAS. Inst. of Horticulture, Kyiv, 1964. 68. Information Resources and Using thereof in the Agro-Industrial Complex*/UAAN. Inst. for Agrar. Economics. K, 1999; 69. Irrigated Agriculture**. 70. Potato Production and Science**/UAAN. Inst. of Potato Growing. Kyiv, 1970; 71. Poultry Farming/ UAAN. Inst. of Poultry Farming, Birky, 1964. 72. Designing, Production and Operation of Agricultural Machinery**/Kirovohrad State Techn. Univ. Kirovohrad, 1971; 73. Fishery**/UAAS. Inst. of Fishery., Kyiv, 1965.; 74. Forestry and Forest Amelioration**/Ukr. Research Inst. of Forestry and Forest Amelioration, Kyiv, 1965; 75. Issues of Zooengg. and Vet. Medicine/Ministry of Agr. Policy of Ukraine. Kharkiv Zoovet. Inst, Kharkiv, 1889. 76. Land Reclamation and Water Management**/UAAN. Inst. of Hydraulic Engg and Land Reclamation. Kyiv, 1965; 77. Marine Ecology*/NAN. Southern Seas Biology Inst., Sevastopol, 1980; 78. Mechanization and Electrification of Agr.**/UAAN. Inst. of Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture. Kyiv, 1965; 79. Mechanization of Agr. Production*/National Agr. Univ., Kyiv, 1999; 80. Plant Breeding and Seed Sc.**/UAAS, Kyiv, 1964. 81. Sc. Bull.: Forestry Research in Ukraine*/Ukr. State Forestry Engg Univ., Lviv, 1994; 82. Sc. Bull. of the National Agr. Univ.*, Kyiv, 1997; 83. Sc. Bull. of Uzhhorod State Univ. Series Biology. Uzhhorod, 2000; 84. Sc. Bull./Inst. of Animal Farming. Kharkiv, 2000. 85. Sc. and Tech. Bull. of the Inst. of Animal Physiology and Biochemistry. Lviv, 1979. Sc. works of the Zoology Museum of the Odessa State Univ.,1992; 86. Sc. Papers of Tavria State Agroengg. Acad., Melitopol, 1978. 87. Tavria’s Sc. Bull.*/ UAAS. Kherson State Agr. Univ., Kherson, 1996. 88. Vegetable and Melon Growing/UAAN. Inst. of Vegetable and Melon Growing, Kyiv, 1964. 89. Vet. Medicine**/UAAN. IECVM, Kyiv, 1964; 90. Vine Growing and Wine-Making*/UAAN. Magarach Grape Vine and Wine Inst., Yalta, the Crimea.

_____________________

* Collection of scientific papers;  ** Interdepartmental topical collection of scientific papers

 The paper’s size limitations do not allow citing all the editions of the type published in Ukraine, so in reality they are more plentiful. It is characteristic that the classical editions are mainly paper-based, whereas among the newly created ones e-versions occur in increasing frequency.

 Other constituents of Ukraine’s AI flow, in particular books and scientific monographs published in the fields under question in this country, as estimated by the Book Chamber of Ukraine, can be characterized by the figures as follows (Table 1): 

 Table 1. Book-publishing in the agrarian and related fields in Ukraine

Of course, in a comparative aspect these numbers of books published in said fields are believed to be rather low for the country as large as Ukraine. Yet they, and those of periodicals and continued editions cited above, are signs of coming the publishing business out of the book-publishing crisis. From the standpoint of the AGRIS system, when processed properly, these sources could become a significant contribution to the AGRIS-Ukraine and AGRIS-FAO DBs.

 The Ukraine’s AI and AR can be found sometimes at unexpected places, so, all the resources given below are connected with the agrarian information field either directly or indirectly.

 The author has to let the paper’s reader know that as size limitations do not allow go deep into characteristics of each resource cited, the best way supposed is visiting the Ukraine’s agrarian Web-resources. The majority of them are provided with the Russian or English variants.

4 The main agrarian information resources of Ukraine

           Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (NBUV) (E-mail: nlu@scl.freenet.kiev.ua, www.nbuv.gov.ua), the largest country’s library, gives a shelter to 14 million units of issue, including that of the agrarian content, with an annual inflow of 160-180 thousand documents (books, journals, newspapers etc.) is described in details at its web-site. It is of importance that the Library has initiated the National Abstracting System and thus “Ukrainika Naukova” (Ukrainica Scientific) DB is being created with the Ukrainian Abstract Journal (AJ) “Dzherelo” (Source) in several series, including agrarian, as a paper-based product. At the same time Electronic Library is being created of the documents cited in the DB. The e-AJ information is used for AGRIS purposes.

  ·                     The official web-site of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, supported by its ITC partner OJSC "Agropromsystema" (www.minagro.kiev.ua).

  ·                     The variegated Minagropolityky’s information is well completed by the Agrarian Sector of Ukraine portal (www.agroua.net), which is the basis of the national distance information-advisory system in the field of agricultural production as well as education and research, developed by the National Agrarian University (NAU), UAAN and other intitutions.

·                     AGROWeb-Ukraine (www.awu.kiev.ua), created and supported with the aid of FAO's Central and Eastern Europe Sub-regional Office (SEUR), where brief information on Ukraine’s natural and climatic conditions, information centres, agroeducational system, agromarketing etc. is outlined. One can see that AGROWeb-Ukraine is good in the uniform enlightening of international events, yet far from being so in presenting an agrarian Ukraine, the purpose which it was founded for.

  ·                     Agrarian educational institutions of AGROOSVITA (see above for deciphering) is presented at the mentioned web-site www.agroua.net. One’s eye catches that just insignificant part of them and their libraries has sites of their own: NAU (www.nauu.kiev.ua); Bila Tserkva DAU (www.bsau.kiev.ua); Sumy DAU (www.sau.sumy.ua); Lviv DAU (www.lviv.uar.net/~lday); Mykolayiv DAA (www.mdaa.mk.ua).

  ·                     NAU, the National Agrarian University of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (www.nauu.kiev.ua), the leader of the AGROOSVITA. Its scientific output is concentrated in two continued editions "Scientific Bulletin of the National Agrarian University" and "Mechanization of Agricultural Production", the article-by-article bibliographic description of which is put on the Internet, not to mention all other types of AI. The NAU's Scientific Library Centre (E-mail: library@nauu.kiev.ua) is an information-consulting centre for agrarian educational institutions.

  ·                     AGRONAUKA (deciphered above), the UAAN network, is exhaustively presented at www.agroua.net.

  ·                     The State Scientific Agricultural Library of UAAN (DNSHB) (cnsgb@faust.kiev.ua), a UAAN’s information “provider”, the stock of which exceeds 1 million of units of issue and comprises publications of UAAS's scientists, methodical recommendations, systematic and inquiry materials etc.

On the one hand, DNSHB is the recognized scientific-methodological centre for 273 UAAN and Minagropolityky libraries. On the other hand, seemingly because of financial problems as well as of insufficient understanding of library’s tasks in the modern world, it has distanced itself from fulfilling the role of the national agrarian information leader, as it should be and as it is in the majority of other countries participating the AGRIS/CARIS system. Neither UAAN, nor DNSHB have no web-site of their own. In author’s opinion, this is the place where the National Agrarian Database is to be located. The situation with DNSHB in this country is to be changed without delay.

·                     The official web-site of the State Forestry Committee of Ukraine (http://dklg.kiev.ua) enlightens the activities of this sub-sector, in particular disclosed are its target programmes, “The State Programme “Forests of Ukraine for 2002-2015”, “Top-priority measures on creating protective forest plantations on non-agricultural lands and in river basins”, forestry norm and legislative framework, e.g. “The Forest Codex of Ukraine”, “Instructions on the procedure of issuing licenses on hunting, Provisions on non-governmental inspectors”, announcements, publications in the field of forestry etc.

  ·                     The State Food Department and State Fishery Department (Minagropolityky) have no web-sites of their own, so huge opportunities of “a Net office” are not used here. For the purposes of the AGRIS-FAO DB the food information is processed by UkrINTEI. Comforting is the fact that the South Research Institute of Marine Fishery and Oceanography (YugNIRO) (Kerch, Ukraine), which belongs to the latter department, is a national partner of ASFIS (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System, FAO) on the part of Ukraine and thus Ukrainian fishery information becomes a constituent of the FAO’s global flow (due to YugNIRO’s Dr. E. Romanov’s efforts).

  ·                     The many-sided activities of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (E-mail: secr@menr.gov.ua, www.menr.gov.ua) is exhaustively enlightened on the portal thereof. No doubts, for many reasons for Ukraine the ecology and nature protection matters are those of top priority.

  ·                     The unique information on the Chornobyl accident consequences (7 million people are estimated to suffer from radiation-related effects, 4,400 deaths blamed on it) has been accumulated in this country. In 2003 the All-Ukrainian Ecological League (VEL) (E-mail: vel@ecoleague.net) (Kyiv) has established its abstracting system and founded the “Ekolohiya” (Ecology) Abstract Journal (AJ), which describes literature published (for a five-year period) on the ecology issues in 12 rubrics as follows: environmental policy, bioecology, technoecology, geoecology, agroecology, medical ecology, sustainable development, nature management economy, ecological education, ecological risks, legal aspects of ecology, preserving biological and landscape diversity. Total six AJ issues have already seen the light of the day. All the titles and key words are given in English also. There is no AJ’s e-version on the Internet.

  ·                     A huge block of All-Ukrainian information connected with educational, scientific and innovation activities in this country, including the field of agrarian education, is presented at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine’s official web-site (www.mon.gov.ua). The database “Higher Educational Institutions of Ukraine”, including those agrarian, can be encountered here. Information on the certain institutions of MON, which the author belongs to through UkrINTEI, is given in more details.

  ·                     The Ukrainian Institute of Scientific-Technical and Economic Information (UkrINTEI) (E-mail: uintei@uintei.kiev.ua, www.uintei.kiev.ua), the main institution in the STI field, an international information centre, the National AGRIS Resource Centre, is a full-right player in the field of agrarian information as well. According to the Decree No. 162 "On the state recording of research and development works and dissertations" as of 31 March 1992, every Ph.D. or D.Sc. thesis defended in Ukraine, scientific reports of research institutions, current and finished, are recorded here, this is the full collection thereof in this country. Realization of the decree allowed Ukraine creating a strategic information resource of its own reflecting the state’s scientific and technical potential. Input R&D and thesis flow consists of primary and secondary documents. In doing so, based on primary documents (reports on research, explanation notes to developments, defended Ph.D. and D.Sc. theses) and on secondary documents (R&D and Theses recording forms) the State Fund for Recording R&D and Theses Documents as well as the National R&D and Theses Database (NDDKR) (E-mail: nddkr@uintei.kiev.ua) are being formed. As of Jan 2005, the State Fund of Primary Documents comprised 93,893 documents (1992-2004) (48,588 records about theses and more than 45,305 records on current and continued research). For the same period there were 444,664 documents (240,041 recording forms, 156,035 R&D recording forms and 48,588 theses recording forms) in the State Fund of Secondary Documents. The information resource of the State Recording System for R&D and Dissertations is a unique scientific and technical object and it is recognized by MON as Ukraine's national property. The latest records in the National R&D and Theses DB are provided with an English abstract as they are supplied by authors and institutions, yet there is a need in improving the DB’s English content. The translation of the DB's content as a whole into English (e.g. as an international project) would allow UkrINTEI presenting the full picture of scientific research in Ukraine to the world’s scientific community. The NDDKR full-text information is widely used in UkrINTEI’s Electronic Library but the issue of free Internet access to NDDKR is not solved yet. Possessing such a huge information resource envisages producing a number of derivative information products on its basis, e.g. the "Scientists of Ukraine" DB is underway, “Scientific institutions of Ukraine” handbook has been published in 2005. The Agrarian part of NDDKR is also being processed for the purposes of the AGRIS/CARIS system. A picture of research in the field under study in Ukraine is as follows:

Table 2. UkrINTEI's National R&D and Theses DB (NDDKR) content

(1993-1999 and 1999-2005, as of 26 Apr 2005)

As the table 2 shows, the most strong information potential is accumulated in the fields of agriculture, food industry, biology.

 The world has already learnt the acronym DARE, now there is an opportunity to memorize one more, NDDKR.

  ·                     Issues of protecting intellectual property in Ukraine are watched over by the State Department of Intellectual Property (www.ukrpatent.org) established according to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Establishment of the State Department of Intellectual Property” No. 601 of April 4, 2000 as state-run governmental body within the MON. In general, the department is the peak of the state system of intellectual property protection, comprising the State Enterprise (SE) “Ukrainian Institute of Industrial Property” (UIPV), SE “Ukrainian Agency of Copyright and Related Rights», SE “Intelzakhyst”, the Institute of Intellectual Property and Law (www.iipl.ukrpatent.org).

The efforts of the Department and Ukrainian industries, businesses and inventors have stipulated the patent-license activities in this country, e.g. the number of Ukrainian patents for independence years has exceeded 72,600 (as of 30 April 2005), a significant part of them is of agrarian content and it is processed for AGRIS DB. What is important, that following huge work done on protecting Ukrainian intellectual property, in 2004, the relational DBs, namely “Commodities and services trademarks registered in Ukraine” and “Industrial standards registered in Ukraine”, and, in 2005, the relational DB “Inventions in Ukraine” are put on the Internet (www.ukrpatent.org) and now domestic and foreign users are provided with access to these weightiest information resources. Earlier, in 2002, Ukraine also joined the works on creating a joint CIS countries regional information product on CD- ROM disks, called CISPatent, with the Russian Patent Department (Rospatent) (www.rupto.ru) as a coordinator of this project. The monthly disks being issued contain bibliographic data, abstracts and full descriptions of the inventions. Further, since 2005 the UIPV has started issuing the patent–information products on CD-ROMs as follows: the Official Bulletin “Industrial property”; the National CD-ROM “Inventions in Ukraine” and the National CD-ROM “Commodities and services trademarks registered in Ukraine”. As to applications, the agrarian content thereof is known to be 45-100 applications monthly.

  ·                     The stock of the State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine (DNTB) (E-mail: gntb@uintei.kiev.ua, www.gntb.n-t.org), which shares the same building with UkrINTEI, comprise more than 20.8 million units of issue, including unique stock: industrial catalogues, deposited works, patents and patent legislation, intellectual property.

  ·                     Being seen by a naked eye in Ukraine, food industry’s successes of the recent years, are underlain by scientific research. The food science in this country is headed by the National University of Food Technologies (NUKhT) (E-mail: info@nuft.edu.ua, www.nuft.edu.ua), Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies (ONAFT) (E-mail: george@osaft.odessa.ua, www.osaft.odessa.ua) and Kharkiv State University of Nutrition and Trade (KhDUNT) (E-mail: hdatoh@kharkiv.ua), supported by the State Food Department (Minagropolityky) and MON, as well as by UAAN’s Technological Institute of Milk and Meat (TIMM) (E-mail timm@nbi.com.ua). Scientific works of food industry’s scientists and specialists are published in the following editions: "Scientific papers of NUKhT", "Food Industry" collection of scientific papers and "Food and Processing Industry" journal. The main flows of food industry information and its resources are concentrated at the NUKhT’s Scientific Library (http://library.usuft.edu.ua, www.library.nuft.edu.ua).

  ·                     The Medical Library of Ukraine (E-mail: medlib@mail.library.gov.ua, www.library.gov.ua), a scientific-information centre for country’s medical libraries, has accumulated among others unique materials (human health and nutrition, ecological topics etc.) for AGRIS purposes. All the library processes are being automated, since 2001 its E-catalogue is being maintained.

 Large information wealth is generated and stored outside of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and among them:

  ·                     Karazin Kharkiv National University (http://www.univer.kharkov.ua), Ukraine's second largest city and a large scientific centre, is a leading educational institution of Ukraine’s Eastern region. From the web-site of its Central Scientific Library, which is referred to the largest in Ukraine (http://www-library.univer.kharkov.ua ), access is opened to the United DB of all the regional higher education institutions' Libraries (33), with those of agricultural profile among them (7).

  ·                     Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine (IEKVM) (http://iekvm.kharkov.ua ), “a pioneer" in the field of AIC computerization. The IEKVM's Scientific and Library Centre of Veterinary Medicine (NIBTs) uses Web-site of its own www.vet.kharkov.ua.

Ukraine’s commercial agrarian information is produced by a number of structures, in brief:

·         National Association of Exchanges of Ukraine (NABU) (http://nabu.kiev.ua, www.minagro.kiev.ua, www.uame.com.ua);

·         Analytical Center "UkrAgroConsult" (www.agroukr.com.ua) operates in the field of agrarian and food information rendering professional analytical information (market research and investment);

·         Ukrainian Grain Association portal (http://uga-port.org.ua);

·         Business network portal LigaOnline (www.liga.kiev.ua).

Conclusions

 Ukraine is keeping step with the rest of the world in the field of applying ICTs to its AI, the annual circulation of which is assessed by the paper’s author as that of no less than 25,000-30,000 units of issue.  The weightiest part of Ukraine’s AI, in particular R&D and inventions (trademarks, standards) is already transformed into AIR (databases, in particular those of UkrINTEI and Ukrpatent), the ministerial (departmental) information is organized as Web-resources and library information into e-catalogues often put on the Internet (or on the UAnet, its Ukrainian fragment). It is characteristic that this work is being scattered by many institutions and libraries around this country. Therefore there is an evident need in defining the national leader in the field of AI, the Web-portal of which should serve as the centre of AI and AIR in Ukraine and with this aim the role of DNSHB is to be enhanced.

 The work is to be extended within the country on harmonizing Ukraine’s bibliographic description (BD) of agrarian research output with the international requirements, in particular those of FAO, which will enhance access to it. The BDs are to be linked with the full-texts of the documents. The leading role in distributing the international (FAO’s) standards should play the National AGRIS Resource Centre overcoming interdepartmental barriers on the way of creating the AGRIS network in Ukraine as well as a lack of financing on the part of the government, language barrier and, as a result, the lack of intellectual force (skilled computer engineers, translators).

 Today a trend is observed towards growing the UAnet’s scientific, in particular agrarian, content, a significant part of which remains in the Ukrainian language yet. To ensure the retrieval of Ukraine’s AI by the international reader, this country should build its national agricultural ontology and join with it the FAO’s Agricultural Ontology Server (AOS). The first-approximation approach to solving the AOS issue in Ukraine is outlined in details in author’s abstract. 

 So, from the viewpoint of opening access for the world community, Ukraine’s AI at educational and research institutions, is in need of applying the intensive information management with significant domestic and international investment for solving urgent tasks: covering Ukraine’s agrarian information in its fullness with FAO’s information processing methods (using the WebAGRIS software), translating AGROVOC and developing the national AOS. At present the National AGRIS-FAO Resource Centre has all the necessary “know-how” from FAO and understanding thereof.

 In conclusion it should be emphasized that the interdepartmental, that is independent, somewhat remote position of the National AGRIS Resource Centre in Ukraine allows it to be a kind of an outside observer and express unbiased criticism on the situation with agrarian situation in Ukraine.