Frosts destroyed a third of the harvest: expert told what will happen to prices in stores

19 May 13:28

OPINION

This year’s situation in Ukrainian agriculture is extremely worrying. The weather and climate conditions have caused new serious losses to farmers, which have been added to the losses caused by the full-scale war. However, the consequences of this for consumers will not be very noticeable. This was stated by Leonid Kozachenko, President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, in an exclusive commentary to "Komersant Ukrainian".

“The situation is quite difficult now. Indeed, the weather and climate conditions have added to the losses we have already suffered from the war. Almost a third of winter wheat in Ukraine was damaged by frost. But not all 30% is completely unusable. It’s just that 15% of the land is empty, there is nothing left,”

– said the expert.

According to the UAC president, Ukrainian farmers are currently in a difficult situation due to a lack of working capital. Those farmers who have enough financial resources are trying to solve the problem by planting oilseeds.

“Those who have working capital sow oilseeds, sunflower, soybeans, although they violate crop rotations because there are serious requirements for compliance, especially for oilseeds. For example, sunflower requires at least three years of break after you sow in this field,”

– says the farmer.

However, as the expert emphasized, most farmers do not have the necessary working capital and they have already lost a lot of this year’s harvest.

The problems affected not only grain crops. Leonid Kozachenko noted that the horticultural sector has also suffered significant losses.

“This situation is not only with grain crops. The situation is the same with fruits and vegetables, which will be partially lost. For example, the fruit trees that have blossomed in the western part of Ukraine and the northern part of Ukraine have been exposed to such frosts that they could not survive them. There are berries that have lost almost a third of their harvest,”

– he said.

In general, Kozachenko estimates that the total losses amount to about 15%.

The situation with vegetables is somewhat better, although there are some problems here as well.

“Vegetables are a little easier, although we are late with planting seedlings and sowing vegetables. But we hope that the delay will not lead to large losses,”

– said the UAC President.

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What will happen to prices?

Despite all the difficulties, Leonid Kozachenko is confident that the problems described above will primarily have a negative impact on export potential. Prices on the domestic market will not rise very significantly, he says.

“This will have a very negative impact on exports and financial results this year. Of course, it may raise prices on the domestic market, but not significantly. There is no need to be afraid that there will be very high prices on store shelves,” he said,

– he said.

At the same time, Mr. Kozachenko emphasized the need for support for agricultural enterprises that have suffered significant losses.

“Of course, we need to think about helping those agricultural enterprises that will lose a lot. Because insurance – they could be made – but, as a rule, no one bothered with it, because such cases have never happened before,” he said,

– he said.

In conclusion, the President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation suggested that in the future farmers may change their approach to crop insurance: