Traditionally the “granary of Europe”, Ukraine is one of the world’s major grain producers. The war, theft and the blockade of their ports threaten famine.
In Ukraine, too, the time has come that farmers around the world are looking forward to. The fields are cultivated, grain is sown. But the war changed everything.
“The situation in the field is very stressful, because you can hear the explosions even when driving a tractor across the field,” says Volodymyr from the Kharkiv region, who has been working as a tractor driver for a farm for four years. “But I found a way out. From the first day of the war I turned on loud music. Then I don’t hear explosions and just work.”
Much depends on Volodymyr’s work: last year, Ukraine exported almost 30 million tons of grain, according to the Ministry of Agriculture in Kyiv last December communicated. Monthly, before the Russian invasion, Ukraine exported 4.5 million tons of agricultural produce through its ports – 12 percent of the world’s wheat, 15 percent of corn and 50 percent of sunflower oil. These ports are now blocked by the Russians and of course the harvest this year will be far less. In Germany, this will lead to higher prices – in the poor countries of the world, famine will be the result.
mines in the field
Sowing went as planned in Volodymyr’s village: “Our boss says that we will work as long as there is work, and I agree with him,” he says. But his colleagues in the neighboring village cannot enter their fields because they are still full of Russian mines. “It’s difficult to predict how the harvest will turn out,” said the 22-year-old. Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Mykola Solsky said the news agency AFP, the harvest could fall by 25 or even 50 percent this year – and that is still an optimistic forecast. In addition, the fuel for the tractors is scarce.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, oil depots across Ukraine have been the target of Russian attacks. After a refinery near the city of Kremenchuk in central Ukraine was hit at the end of April, there were shortages of petrol and diesel at petrol stations in Ukraine, also caused by the blockade of the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. according to experts The fuel shortage could continue for several weeks, since not such large quantities can come into the country overland from Europe.
Food from Ukraine is urgently needed
According to information from Kyiv, Ukrainian agriculture is also suffering from the fact that the Russian army is having grain removed from the land that was actually intended for sowing. In addition, reports of theft of agricultural equipment are increasing.
Agriculture Minister Solsky said Ukrainian farmers would “sow wherever possible”. For countries that depend on supplies from Ukraine, that might not be enough, because Ukraine is not only the “granary of Europe” as it is often referred to, but one of the most important grain producers in the world. “Ukraine’s food is urgently needed in the world,” said the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Germany, Martin Frick, recently to the German Press Agency.
Of course, Volodymyr also knows that because of the war against his country there is a risk of starvation in parts of the world. “I can say with certainty that there will be no famine in Ukraine, that’s for sure,” he says. “But Africa may not get enough grain.”