Agriculture in Ukraine: the breadbasket of the world put to the test of war

Published on: 04/12/2022 – 14:45Modified on: 04/12/2022 – 14:51 Ukrainian farmers have become veritable popular heroes with the dissemination of videos showing them towing abandoned Russian tanks or trucks. Images that attest to the logistical difficulties of Vladimir Putin’s army. But in reality, this war has plunged local agriculture into a crisis whose repercussions are felt throughout the planet. Because Ukraine plays an essential role in the world supply of cereals and sunflower oil. Because of the war and the Russian invasion, Oleksandr Kyrytchychyn can only access a small part of his land, 600 hectares out of 5000, and only one of his tractors. Most of its machinery and fertilizer stocks are on land occupied by the Russian enemy. He knows that his 2022 harvest will have nothing to do with those of previous years. An observation also made by the farmer Lioudmyla Kozyr, who recalls that “the black soil” of Ukraine feeds the population of the country and also “that of the whole world”. However, she did not buy the seeds she needed before the war. And she may have a hard time finding any now. A program prepared by Jennie Shin.