The main reason for the decline is the war, explained Ivashchenko. As a result of the Russian invasion of the country, the available area shrank and seed yields declined.
The month-long block on Ukrainian grain exports “has broken a cycle”, grain association head Ivashchenko said. Farmers had had no income for a long time – which in turn meant they didn’t have enough money to buy fertilizer. As a result, yields dropped even in areas that could have been farmed despite the war.
Ukraine is one of the largest grain exporters in the world. However, after the start of the war, the export of 20 million tons of grain from the country was blocked for months.
An agreement signed between Russia and Ukraine in July and extended for about four months in November allowed exports to resume. According to the responsible authorities, as a result of the agreement, 580 ships with a total of about 15 million tons of Ukrainian grain left the country’s ports.
Ivashchenko also explained that in addition to the consequences of the port blockade, the occupation of several regions, the fighting on arable land, the lack of fuel and the “destruction of infrastructure” in Ukraine damaged the harvest this year. Instead of the usual 25 million hectares of arable land, only 18 to 19 million hectares were harvested this year.