Ukraine Increases Area Planted with Spring Crops

Ukrainian farmers have sown around 400,000 hectares of various spring crops by Thursday, 10 percent more than on the same date last year, despite the Russian invasion, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Taras Visockij.

The fuel shortage has not affected sowing, emphasized the Ukrainian official.

– We are negotiating with suppliers to ensure that sowing does not stop – said Visockij.

Former Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture Roman Leščenko, who resigned last week for health reasons, told Reuters that spring crops this year could be sown on only about seven million hectares, half the area compared to 2021.

According to him, the ministry has urged farmers to sow more spring wheat, buckwheat, oats, millet, and spring barley. The area under sunflower and corn could be reduced, he estimated. 

He refused to forecast the grain harvest for 2022 as the “situation has not fully stabilized”.

– The area affected by hostilities is constantly shifting, and we hope that the situation will change, that peace will be established, and that we will be able to sow at least late crops in areas that are currently in war zones – said the Ukrainian minister.

Leščenko has meanwhile been replaced by Mikola Solskij, the author of the reform of Ukrainian agriculture, which includes the sale of agricultural land to foreigners.

Ukraine is a major global producer and exporter of agricultural products, Reuters emphasizes, and hostilities could sharply reduce the harvest in 2022 and exports in the 2022/2023 season.

Since the beginning of the war, they have suspended the export of rye, oats, millet, buckwheat, salt, sugar, meat, and livestock and introduced export permits for wheat. However, the government announced that it would not restrict the export of corn and sunflower oil.

Visockij said on Thursday that Ukraine’s corn stocks at the end of March amount to 13 million tons, while wheat stocks are 3.8 million tons.

Last week, Minister Solskij said that the value of grain stocks intended for export is 7.5 billion dollars, but he did not specify the quantity.

Global food prices will continue to rise if the situation in Ukraine does not change after the invasion, added the new Minister of Agriculture.