Due to Russia's military invasion in Ukraine, agriculture is suffering, which, according to the State Statistics Service, together with the forestry and fisheries sector last year accounted for 10,6% of GDP.

Mykola Solskyi, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, told this to the Italian online publication Adnkronos. “The percentage of losses today is very high and it is difficult to calculate. The war is still going on, and the losses, unfortunately, are increasing day by day. For today we estimate that crops will decrease by 20-30% compared to last year. Obstacles caused by hostilities can reduce crop quality and yields per hectare. According to the preliminary data, about 20-30% of arable land may remain unsown. The exact figure will be known at the end of May, when the sowing campaign ends,” -  the Minister said.

Mykola Solskyi mentioned that many farmers are actually changing the crop culture. For example, those who sowed corn last year prefer sunflower this year. As a result, the corn harvest will decrease a bit. At the same time, soybean, rapeseed, barley and wheat crops increased. 

“According to the preliminary data, the decline in production as a whole ranges from 40 to 70% depending on the product and the situation in each region,”-  added Mykola Solskyi.

As for export, this year Ukraine had to export 20 million tons of wheat from last year's harvest to world markets, but it is difficult to make as seaports are blocked. As average rate, we export more than 5 million tons of grain a month, in March - 1,4 million tons, including 200 thousand tons of food wheat.

“In the nearest future, the difficulties with export will continue, which will obviously affect the countries to which grain had to be sent,” - the Minister added.

Mykola Solskyi stressed the significant active assistance of the European Union to Ukraine.

“The main aid is the revision of export quotas and their maximum reduction – this is the most important support that Ukrainian agricultural businesses expect from the EU. Besides, we asked to simplify transit conditions in order to be able to use ports in the Baltic Sea and Romanian ports in the Black Sea,”-  said the head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.

“The war in Ukraine has broken the market balance, so we must be ready for the fact that food prices will be larger. This will last until the normal balance of supply and demand is renewed. Today, supply in world grain markets has fallen significantly. And it is possible that high grain prices will be for another 3-5 years,” -  the Minister concluded.

Reference source: the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine