A farmer works in a field in Izmail on March 24, 2022 in Ukraine (AFP/BULENT KILIC)
On fields as far as the eye can see, harvesters have just started sowing sunflower, of which Ukraine represents 50% of world trade. But the lack of fuel threatens the agricultural season and, ultimately, the food security of tens of millions of people around the world.
Part of the future harvest is at stake here, in Bahaté, on the clay lands of Alexander Petkov in southwestern Ukraine, near the border with Romania.
“The season starts here, in areas not affected by the war, unlike Mykolaiv or Kherson which will not be able to participate normally,” said Mr. Petkov, a 47-year-old farmer, one of the most important in the region. Mykolaiv and Kherson are two cities further east: the first is bombarded daily by the Russian army, and the Ukrainians claim to have launched a counter-offensive to retake the second from them.
Last year Mr. Petkov produced 30,000 tonnes of barley, 27,000 tonnes of wheat and 5,500 tonnes of sunflower, among others, he said.
He points with a fatalistic air to the black seeds of sunflowers or the wheat that are piling up in his vast barns: for lack of outlets, he cannot sell the last harvests, and the fuel is in danger of rapidly running out for sowing.
“All ports are closed because of the presence of Russian warships in the Black Sea,” recalls Alexander Petkov. The Ukrainian government has raised the possibility of exporting via the Romanian port of Constanta, but without concrete progress in this direction, according to him.
“We are currently using leftover fuel that we had before the war, but there is no new supply,” he warns. “We risk running out in three to five days.”
– “Bottleneck” –
In a report released on Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) confirms that “Ukraine is heavily dependent on fuel imports, with around 70% of its gasoline and diesel coming from Russia and of Belarus”, an ally of Moscow.
In Ukraine, the lack of fuel threatens the agricultural season and, ultimately, the food security of tens of millions of people around the world (AFP/Archives/PHILIPPE DESMAZES)
“A crucial bottleneck for spring sowing, where it is possible despite the war, is access to fuel,” the FAO concludes, noting that on a government census of 1,300 large agribusinesses last week , only a fifth had enough fuel to sow.
Pesticides and fertilizers are also likely to run out, according to the FAO.
More than 150,000 hectares have already been sown, the Ministry of Agriculture nevertheless announced in a press release on Friday, citing fields of corn, soybeans, sunflowers, millet, buckwheat, oats and beets.
If Ukraine’s reserves are sufficient to ensure its food security for a year, the Russian invasion “risks causing a 30% reduction in cultivated areas”, according to the ministry, which estimates the number of people affected in the country at 100 million. the world.
“Russian troops are mining fields in Ukraine, blowing up agricultural machinery, destroying the fuel reserves necessary for sowing,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused again on Saturday, in a videoconference speech before the Doha Forum.
“Our country has enough food. But Ukraine’s lack of exports will hit many peoples in the Islamic world, Latin America and other parts of the planet,” he warned.
– “Burnt fields and harvesters” –
Before the war, Ukraine was the world’s fourth largest exporter of maize and on the way to becoming the third exporter of wheat, behind Russia and the United States.
Wheat: the countries most dependent on Russia and Ukraine (AFP/Archives/Sylvie HUSSON)
Russia and Ukraine together account for 30% of world wheat exports.
“Food shortages will materialize” with the Russian invasion, warned US President Joe Biden, while the European Union announced on Friday the launch of a program called “Farm” (Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission, mission of resilience for food and agriculture) aimed at mitigating them.
The threats hanging over the exploitation of Alexander Petkov today are very different from the problems he faced before the war.
Its employees were already traveling armed with semi-automatic rifles to discourage the covetousness aroused by the agricultural wealth in this region.
“We have already had fields and harvesters set on fire,” he says, incriminating extortion attempts on the part of “criminal or mafia elements”.
“We ourselves had to install a roadblock at the entrance to the village, which five or six members of the company come to guard every night, as well as armed villagers,” he underlines.
“For the moment, thank God, the Russian invaders have not arrived here,” said Vyatcheslav, 45, one of his associates, who refuses to give his last name.
“We will use these weapons against them if necessary”, he assures us, “but currently, they are only used to protect families, land, and to let no one enter it”.
© 2022 AFP
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