The world relies on grain from the European “granary”, thus Ukrainian farmers have started harvesting the grain crops. According to the UN, Ukraine fed more than 400 million people in the world. Ukraine’s share in the world grain market constitutes 10%. If Ukrainian grain exports fail to be saved (in case of blocking the seaports by the rf troops), a significant number of countries will face famine.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, 12 million tons of grain and legumes have already been harvested, including 8 million tons of wheat, and the total grain harvest in Ukraine is expected to reach 65-67 million tons.
However, according to the Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky’s estimates, up to 19 million tons of wheat will be harvested in 2022 compared to 32.4 million tons in 2021, which is nonetheless almost three times more than Ukraine consumes itself.
However, if the intensity of hostilities decreases, the territories are liberated and ports are unblocked, the harvest will gradually increase.
The main reason for the reduction of the harvest is that about 30% of winter crops happened to be on the territory of active hostilities or under occupation. As a result of “artillery terror” in the frontline regions, crops are burning, and agricultural machinery and elevators are inoperable.
This year, farmers have to work in the fields in bulletproof vests since wheat fields are littered with unexploded shells. Significant areas of farmland in Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kherson regions have been destroyed as a result of fires caused by artillery and rocket attacks, while other grain fields have been seized by russian troops during the offensive or are located in the “gray” zone.
Only within the last week:
A menacing situation developed near Kryvyi Rih, where russian artillery from Kherson direction destroyed 3 fields with grain.
Occupiers destroyed more than 100 hectares of Ukrainian crops in Polohiv district of Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian occupiers destroyed about 400 hectares of fields with crops in Dnipropetrovsk region.
The majority of farms in the occupied territories of Kharkiv region are broken, destroyed, looted, resulting in agricultural work not being conducted on the area of crops of about 50 thousand hectares.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, including due to the seaport blockade, agrarians have been losing at least $760 million in revenues every month, which is $9.1 billion in annual equivalent. The losses of agricultural producers have already been estimated at $ 25 billion. This leads to problems with the procurement of fuel, spare parts, fertilizers, payments to shareholders and salaries.
Despite the shelling, Ukrainian farmers continue to harvest grain, effectively turning agriculture into the “second front” in the war with russia.
Farmers have already started preparations for sowing winter crops – active sowing of rapeseed will begin in a week, wheat and other grains – in a month. “No occupation and enemy attack will make us fold our hands and surrender”, the farmers say. At the same time, the purchase of supplies and sowing operations require funds that are currently not available. In this situation, it is anticipated that the Government, with the support of international partners, will find opportunities to introduce a mechanism of bank lending and other financial instruments.
# infoterror
