<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654841530129,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4febcc790000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654841530129,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4febcc790000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54841510", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1027697"} }); ","_id":"00000181-4c3d-d702-a3cf-4ffdc5d40000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedUkraine’s head of agriculture said the country’s next harvest will produce 40% less food than the previous year’s because of Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s Agrarian Policy and Food Deputy Minister Taras Vysotskyi told CNN on Thursday that a quarter of the country’s farmland has been “lost” since the war and an estimated 500,000 metric tons of grain have been stolen by Russia. Vysotskyi’s claim came the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “millions of people may starve” because of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
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“We have lost 25% of the arable area. In terms of volumes, of course, it is more. We anticipate that the harvest will be around 35% less than previous years, which means around 30 million tonnes less, 35-40% less, almost half of the previous year harvest,” Vysotskyi said.
Even without the decline in crop production, grain exports from the country are at a standstill.
Ukraine, the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, fourth largest of corn, and fifth largest of wheat, has been unable to ship agricultural products since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion because of a Russian blockade of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Ukraine’s president warned in a video released on Thursday that the Russian blockade could have deadly and worldwide consequences.
“Millions of people may starve if the Russian blockade of the Black Sea continues,” Zelensky said in a video address to the TIME100 Gala 2022 in New York, adding that the world is “on the brink of a terrible food crisis.”
Vysotskyi echoed Zelensky’s concerns and blasted Russian claims that civilian ships would be safe on the Black Sea as soon as Ukraine removes mines on shipping routes.
“It’s untrue. The problem is Russian military ships,” Vysotskyi said, adding that mines can’t be cleared until the war ends or there is a ceasefire.
Ukrainian grain exports appear to be at risk even before they make it onto ships.
On Sunday, a Russian airstrike destroyed at least two warehouses at the Nika-Tera grain terminal in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. The facility is Ukraine’s second largest grain terminal.
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Ukrainian and Western officials have accused Russia of bombing numerous grain storage facilities in Ukraine since the start of the war.
However, according to Vysotskyi, “Ukraine is ready to fulfill all the obligations in order to supply necessary food for international food security. So the point is very clear: Russia should stop the war.”
