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 the situation is not much better.

According to the farmers, the main problem to start sowing, in addition to the war with Russia, is poor logistics. Suppliers delay seed delivery, and there is lack of fuel, fertilizers and chemicals for crop protection. Still, there is no one refusing to sow. The main concern now is about quality and quantity of the future crop yield.

War and adjustments

It has been more than two weeks since Russia started a full-scale war in Ukraine. The country withstood the first blows. So far active military activities have been localized, and occupation of new territories has been suspended. However, the factors mentioned above destroyed logistics chains. Traditional for Ukraine’s agricultural sector production of cereals and oilseeds appears to be at risk.  At this point the farmers predict this year yield reduction from 15 to 50%.

Occupied northern areas — work for food

A farm in Chernihiv region, which we will not name, has operated several thousand hectares of land to produce cereals and oilseeds as well as feed for 1,000 dairy cows. Before the war, the owner paid UAH 10,000,000 of taxes to the budget of Ukraine. He says that today almost all the fields are under the control of Russian troops. In these circumstances, the question of supplying all necessary means for proper agricultural production is not even discussed.

"On the roads there are troops of invaders. Neither food nor humanitarian aid can be delivered to the village. Local people come to me and ask for food. Therefore, today our focus is on providing them with food. Milk is distributed for free from the first day of the war. My workers went to bake bread at night. Tanks stood beside them but they baked bread. We are going to sow using seeds, fertilizers and fuel left.

Definitely we will not be able properly to follow the technology of grain production. We just can't do that. We do not have any operational costs. We could hardly dress winter wheat", our interlocutor said.

In the center agrarians work when there is no shelling

Farmers in Poltava region, especially in its northern part, claim that enemy shells have been "arriving" on their fields. But they will sow. "The main problem for us is the war with all its consequences. Logistics has fallen: no delivery, closed ports. We have in stock some fuel and fertilizers, but we will not be able to harvest the same crop yield as last year. Anyway, we will plant and then we will see the results at harvest time. Today we trust to chance. When there is no shelling, we work. 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.

Odessa direction — cereals cannot be sold

Southern Odessa region could not escape logistical problems. They are similar to the ones in the north and east regions with only one exception — no shelling. "The first problem is that there is grain in the storage, but we cannot sell it. We have 500 tons of sunflower seeds and about 200 tons of corn, and it is impossible to take it out because the ports are closed.

As a result, there are no operating costs. One of the banks showed understanding and granted a loan to buy fuel and fertilizers. But the logistics does not work and inputs cannot be delivered. We paid for the seeds before the new year, but the supplier cannot make a delivery. However, they promised to do it   this week. Anyway, we cannot start sowing due to weather", says Mykhailo Hliznutsa, the owner of farming enterprise Dolya.

West — same problems with logistics

All hopes are now focused on the farmers from Western Ukraine, but they also suffer from problems with delivery. "We are getting ready, but seeds and chemicals for plant protection, paid in advance, have not been delivered yet. We don't know how to start sowing without these inputs. We have enough fuel only for the start, then hopefully we will manage to obtain it somehow, otherwise completing the sowing campaign will be at risk. There are some fertilizers in stock", said Volodymyr Lazorko, head of farming enterprise Helios, which is located in Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Better together

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 crops with a short ripening period, especially buckwheat and peas that ripen in July. 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 field work. Now farmers’ focus is on dressing winter crops. The most acute 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.

He also added that failure of sowing campaign in Ukraine would trigger a "dominoes" effect that could lead to global food crisis as Ukraine is the major cereals supplier to Africa and the Middle East. Food shortages or another jump in food prices could raise a wave of refugees to the EU from the above-mentioned regions.

Government position

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has already banned the export of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and complex fertilizers. Export restrictions have been imposed on: wheat and mixture of wheat and rye (meslin); corn; poultry meat; chicken eggs; sunflower oil.

"The result of the whole season and, without exaggeration, the future of our country depends on how well we can organize spring field work. This is a very difficult task, but Ukrainian agricultural producers have repeatedly proved that they are capable of overcoming any difficulties! In spring, farmers always need additional funding for sowing campaign. In addition, today agricultural producers do not have the opportunity to export cereals harvested last year — as a result they do not have enough operating costs to run business", wrote on Facebook Roman Leshchenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

The government has already adopted a resolution defining financial support for small and medium-sized farmers. The following measures are suggested:

• Compensation of the interest rate on loans.
• Maximum loan amount covered by interest rate compensation is up to UAH 50 million.
• Lending is provided for agricultural activities (sowing) for the period of martial law.
• In order to receive a loan, a business entity must also be an agricultural producer in the meaning given in the Law of Ukraine "On State Support of Agriculture of Ukraine".
• The loan is valid for 6 months.
• Maximum amount of the state guarantee for portfolio loans is up to 80%

Farid Huseinov, Agravery.com