spring planting,
global food crisis
If Ukraine does not continue with spring planting, the world will face a global food crisis
Andrii Dykun, the head of the Ukrainian AgriCouncil (UAC), spoke in a column on the pages of Economic Truth about the consequences of the sowing campaign failure for the world.
«To realize the scale of the catastrophe, I will provide some figures. Ukraine is among TOP-5 exporters in the world. Ukraine is the largest exporter of sunflower oil and meal in the world. According to the analysts of the UAC, world export of sunflower oil in 2021/2022 MY amounted to 10.9 million tons, half of which — 5.4 million tons — were exported by Ukraine. Ukraine ranks second in exports of barley and rapeseeds, third — rye and sorghum. In addition, Ukraine provides almost 10% of the world grain supply,» he explained.
Experts from the Kyiv School of Economics, after analyzing the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, came to the conclusion that more than 400 million people in the world depend on grain supply from Ukraine.
«Therefore, the war in Ukraine threatens to result in the global food crisis. And this issue is especially acute for the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Yemen, Israel, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Libya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey). These countries are the main buyers of wheat and corn in the world markets,» Andrii Dykun added.
«At the same time, only during the first week of military actions on the territory of Ukraine, the cost of food wheat increased by 100% and amounted to $ 400 per ton,» he says. «For comparison, in the same period last year, this figure was $ 150/t. That is why the failure of the sowing campaign in Ukraine, reduction in grain production, food shortages and, as a consequence, rising prices, would mean a catastrophe for the whole world.»
Andrii Dykun also explains, that currently Ukrainian farmers are experiencing a total shortage of everything, in particular labor and fuel.
«The issue with employees has been partially worked out through the reservation of people liable for military service. According to the agreement with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Economy, they are not being drafted. The Government also suggested a program of financial support for farmers during the wartime to conduct the sowing campaign.
«We need to do everything we can to sow as fields as possible to provide ourselves with food as well as international markets,» stated Andrii Dykun.
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