farmers,
Planting,
sowing campaign
Planting between attacks: Ukrainian farmers' preparation for sowing campaign
Planting in the southern, eastern and northern regions was about to start, but the war and weather postponed local farmers' plans. In the west as well as in the center of the country the situation is not much better.
Farmers say that the main problem, besides the war with Russia, to start sowing is poor logistics. Suppliers delay seed delivery, there is lack of fuel, fertilizers and chemicals for crop protection. Anyway, agrarians are not going to refuse to sow. The main concern now is quality and quantity of the future crop yield.
It has been more than two weeks since Russia started a full-scale war in Ukraine. So far active military activities have been localized, and occupation of new territories has been suspended. However, the war has destroyed logistics chains. Traditional for Ukraine’s agricultural sector production of cereals and oilseeds appears to be at risk. At this point farmers predict this year yield reduction from 15 to 50%.
A farm in Chernihiv region, the north of Ukraine, has operated several thousand hectares of land to produce cereals and oilseeds as well as feed for 1,000 dairy cows. The owner says that today almost all fields are under the control of Russian troops.
«There are troops of invaders on the roads. Neither food nor humanitarian aid can be delivered to the village. Local people are asking for food. Therefore, today our focus is on providing them with food. Milk has been given away for free since the first day of the war. My employees were baking bread at night while tanks were beside them. We are going to sow using seeds, fertilizers and fuel left,» he said.
In the center agrarians work under shellings. «The main problem for us is the war with all its consequences. Logistics has been destroyed: no delivery, ports are closed. We have some fuel and fertilizers in stock, but we will not be able to harvest the same crop yields as last year. Anyway, we will plant and then we will see the results at harvest time. Today we trust to chance. We continue working, when there is no shelling. We have not started sowing yet due to adverse weather. There are enough employees. We will work, anyway,» said Mykhailo Hnylosyr, head of agricultural cooperative Druzhba in Poltava Region.
Southern Odessa region could not escape logistical problems as well. They are similar to the ones in the north and east regions with only one exception — no shelling. All hopes are put on the farmers from Western Ukraine, but they also suffer from problems with delivery.
Agrarian associations try to solve the problems caused by the war in a comprehensive way. Denys Marchuk, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian AgriCouncil, assumes that the farmers will focus on sowing short-season crops, especially buckwheat and peas. This will stabilize food security in the country.
«Sowing campaign would have started in the southern regions of Ukraine, but it did not happen due to military activities, occupation of some cities and constant aggravation of the situation. In addition, frosts do not allow to start fieldwork. Now farmers are focusing on topdressing winter crops. The most pressing problem today is fuel — we lack 250 thousand tons for sowing campaign. Now we are collecting information from our members on their needs in fuel for seasonal operations,» noticed Denys Marchuk.