04.11.2022 08:16
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Ukraine
20% of the arable land not usable because of war.
Despite recent battlefield successes against Russia, the Ukrainian government is pessimistic about agriculture. These squares of land are either mined, part of the battlefield, or occupied by Russia.

At least 20% of Ukraine's agricultural land will not be usable in the coming year, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Markiyan Dmytrasevych reported online on October 25 to the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Difficult mine clearance
He pointed out that these areas are either mined or part of the battlefield or are located in the Russian-occupied areas. The deputy head of department explained that only around 60% of the arable land could currently be cultivated. Depending on how the situation will develop next spring, the proportion of areas that cannot be harvested in 2023 could even rise to 40%.

Mine clearance in particular is proving difficult. What his country needs now is primarily seeds. Deliveries of this could help to till the areas with summer fruits in the spring – as far as possible. When asked by the EU agricultural politicians about the help they wanted, Dmytrasevych reiterated his government's demand for trucks in order to be able to force the transport of grain along the solidarity corridors. In this regard, the Deputy Minister clarified that Ukraine is still dependent on these solidarity corridors. He appealed to the deputies to design these export routes in the long term.

fertilizer shortage
Although transport by land is much more expensive than by sea, there is concern that Russia will not extend the grain deal to keep the Ukrainian Black Sea ports open, which is due to expire at the end of November. Therefore, Ukraine is urgently dependent on the EU for the export of its own agricultural goods, stressed Dmytrasevych.

Another problem is the shortage of fertilizers. This, too, will in all likelihood reduce the yields and harvest volume. In addition, the recently massively expanded attacks on the Ukrainian energy supply would also hit farmers hard. This applies, among other things, to dairy cow and poultry farming. Dmytrasevych therefore emphatically asked the EU to provide diesel generators. Meanwhile, members of the Agriculture Committee pointed out that there were also bottlenecks in some parts of the EU. The spokesmen for agriculture for the liberal parliamentary group Renew Europe (RE) and the Greens/EFA, Ulrike Müller and Martin Häusling, stated that there is currently a shortage of diesel generators in the European Union as well.

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