How are Ukrainian farmers faring during the ongoing war with Russia?
Latifundist Media has partnered with us to provide boots-on-the-ground coverage.
Kyiv region. Hercules enterprise. 5,000 acres of cultivated land. The company grows wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, rapeseed, and plans to expand hazelnut cultivation to commercial volumes. In recent years, the company has started sowing winter peas.
“This year we planted several varieties of foreign wheat and one domestic variety. We got a little more than 108 bushels per acre of foreign variety, and 120 bushels of Ukrainian. The institute where this variety was created told us that we have a record for Ukraine.”
Viktor Sheremeta marks the high quality of domestic grain and plant protection products. For some products, the farmer says, they have started to use domestic brands more. In terms of percentage, it is 50-50.
We must not lose faith. We must keep our spirits up and remember that everything depends on our efforts. I am sure that Ukrainian farmers should always rely on themselves, not only in these challenging times. This means realizing that the future depends on our steps today.
At the same time, Viktor Sheremeta, as the first vice-president of the Association of Farmers and Landowners of Ukraine, is now trying to help farmers from Donetsk, Kherson and other regions whose farms were destroyed, bombed or looted by the Russians,. Many of them lost everything at once — the equipment they had bought on credit, crops, farms, and land — everything they had built up over the years.
“Russian invaders plundered and destroyed the farm of the head of the Zaporizhzhia Association of Farmers and Landowners in Tokmak. The head of the Donetsk Association of Farmers lost all he had. The farm was in the Lyman district. In the Makariv district of Kyiv region, a missile devastated a farm.”
Currently, the farmers’ association is committed to helping these people and compensating them for their lost property. After the liberation of our territories, farmers will return home and it will take much more than our best efforts to restore farming in the areas where the occupiers stayed so long.
That report was powered by Latifundist Media, with USAID support provided through Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) Activity implemented in Ukraine by Chemonics International. For more information, visit their website or follow them on social media.
