Grain harvest reached 106 million tons in 2021 – 65 million tons estimated to reach 2022
The grain harvest in Ukraine, one of the world’s top producers, will fall by about 40 percent this year compared to 2021 because of the Russian invasion, according to estimates by the National Grains Association released toward the end of the harvest.
After 106 million tons of harvest in 2021, a historical record, “this year, the harvest is predicted to reach 64-65 million tons,” the director of this association, Serhiy Ivachenko, told AFP.
“The main reason is the war,” which led to the reduction of cultivated area and the drop in production, he explained.
The Russian invasion that began on February 24 in eastern, southern and northern Ukraine has disrupted the country’s agricultural industry at a time when Ukraine, known for its highly fertile black soil soils, was the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter, on course to become the third largest grain exporter.
The military offensive initially caused fuel shortages “preventing sowing”, Ivachenko underlined.
The blockade of Ukrainian seaports by the Russian military also prevented grain exports for months, and the proceeds were used to finance sowing, he added.
“The occupation of part of the regions, hostilities in fields, the destruction of infrastructure” reduced by “about a quarter” the total area of fields cultivated by grain producers compared to the previous year, the director of the National Grains Association claimed.
“Usually, we would sow about 25 million hectares. This year, we managed to sow on 18 to 19 million hectares,” he stressed, also noting a “decline” in yield as many farmers no longer have the ability to use fertilizers.
To date, Ukraine has harvested 46.6 million tons of grain on 90% of the fields in use, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy noted.
However, 30% of the grain has not yet been harvested, Ivachenko noted.
Exports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukrainian ports were able to resume in August, following the signing of an international humanitarian agreement sponsored by the US and Turkey, which was almost canceled in the fall.
A total of 580 ships carrying 15 million tons of grain sailed from Ukrainian ports bound for Asian, African and European countries, according to the Ministry of Agricultural Policy.
RES-EMP
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