Ukraine has enough wheat for its own needs and to help others
Ukraine’s decision to transfer 50,000 tons of grain to Somalia and Ethiopia as rubber aid is very useful for these countries, while our state has enough grain to meet its own needs and help others.
The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi said this in Brussels at the press conference following the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the EU on Agriculture and Fisheries, reported the correspondent of Ukrinform.
“There is enough wheat in Ukraine to meet domestic needs. It is now the cheapest in the world here in the middle of the country. We have more than 20 million tons in stock, of which more than 70% need to be exported,” the minister said.
He reminded that according to the decision of the government and the Decree of the President of Ukraine, 25 thousand tons of food wheat will be delivered to Somalia and Ethiopia as humanitarian aid from Ukraine. The transportation of this grain will be organized to support the World Food Program from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine.
Answering Ukrinform’s question about how the war unleashed by Russia affected the forecast volume of the harvest, Mykola Solsky predicts that this year it will be approximately 65-67 million tons, taking into account grain and oil crops. Last year, this indicator reached 108 million tons. But it was a record harvest for the entire history of Ukraine, collected throughout the entire territory of the state.
“Last year’s 108 million tons was a record for the entire history of the world and agriculture here. In addition, this harvest was collected from the entire territory of Ukraine, including those territories that are currently under temporary occupation, and which we did not include in the calculation this year. Therefore, comparing 65-67 million tons of grain in the territory that we now control with the harvest in the same territory last year, it will not take a significant drop, within the framework of the average yield in Ukraine for the last 5-7 years,” he explained. Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.
As it happened, after the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia blocked the Black Sea ports of Ukraine, as a result of which more than 20 million tons of grain were not available for export. Thanks to the “grain” initiative of the UN and the agreements of the international community signed in Istanbul, it was possible to resume the export of Ukrainian grain for consumers via the Black Sea transport routes.
At the same time, the European Union organized the so-called “corridors of solidarity” on the borders with Ukraine for the export of grain by land – using rail, road, and river transport.