Ukraine should become a leader on the global food market, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"The main task facing Ukraine is to take the lead in the food market," he said during the third all-Ukrainian agricultural forum in Kyiv on Thursday.

Yatseniuk said that Ukraine was the first country in Europe in terms of agricultural potential.

"The world is growing, and the population is increasing. Once economic growth begins... the structure of food consumption immediately changes, the price immediately changes, and then demand rises significantly," he said.

Yatseniuk also added: "We, as the number one country in terms of potential, have to feed our citizens with cheap and high-quality food and take the lead on foreign markets. This is a goal set by the government that I lead."

He said that Ukraine could triple its agricultural production in ten years.

Yatseniuk also predicted that Ukraine and the United States would be able to control 65% of the world maize market by 2020.

"So we set an ambitious goal for ourselves - a world leader on the food market," he said.