Ukraine's grain farmers anxious as harvest begins amid Moscow-Kyiv war

An estimated 22 million tons of grain are blocked in Ukraine, and pressure is growing as new harvest begins.

country usually delivers about 30% of its grain to Europe, 30% to North Africa and 40% to Asia.

But with ongoing Russian naval blocke of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, millions of tons of last year's harvest still can't reach ir destinations -- a situation which could le to disruptions of world's food supply.

With Russia's blocke of Ukraine's Black Sea ports, nearly all exports via boat have been halted.

"re is no good price for our grains. storage facilities refuse to receive m. people have to leave m here. front line is not far from here. At any time, it can be finished in one moment by bombing or as we see now fields are on fire," says Yurii Vakulenkv, owner of "Ukrayina" farming enterprise.

Workers risk ir lives daily, and sometimes stumble upon military projectiles such as rockets in field.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of country known as "brebasket of Europe," dressed problem earlier this week.

"We are interested so that our farmers continue to work for next year, for next harvest. For this, we need to export all this grain, barley, wheat, corn, etc. As you know, 22 million tons (of grain) are currently blocked. Today, we talked in detail with Prime Minister of Sweden (about this). We still expect about 60 million tons (of grain) in fall; re will be a tough situation," said Zelenskyy.

Meanwhile, many farmers in Ukraine could go bankrupt.

Oleksandr Chubuk's warehouse should be empty, awaiting new harvest with his supply of winter wheat alrey shipped abro.

Inste, his storage bins in central Ukraine are piled high with grain he cannot ship out because of war with Russia.

Meanwhile green spikes of wheat are alrey ripening.

Chubuk expects to reap 500 tons, but for first time in his 30 years as a farmer, he's uncertain about what to do with it.

"All small, private mills around Kyiv are also stocked up with wheat. places where wheat is stored now must be empty, because in two weeks maximum re will be a new harvest," said Chubuk.

bottleneck of exports is also having an impact on export prices.

Before invasion, Chubuk could sell a ton of wheat from his Kyiv region farm for $270.

Now he can't find a buyer even at $135 per ton.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country is working with U.N., Ukraine, and Russia to find a solution, offering safe corridors in Black Sea for wheat shipments.

For now, Ukraine is trying less-effective alternatives to export its grain, at least to Europe.

Currently, 30% of exports go via three Danube River ports in southwestern Ukraine.

country is trying to ship grain via 12 border crossings with European countries, but trucks must wait in line for days.

"Our Ukrainian grain cannot enter international market now because ports are not working. sea route was most important. Because of this, demand for grain decreased. Some new logistics routes through Europe are currently being developed. But Europe cannot handle such big quantities of grain that we produce," said Chubuk.

Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine could export 6 million to 7 million tons of grain per month, but in June it shipped only 2.2 million tons, according to Ukrainian Grain Association.

"For moment we face most difficult situation in past 30 years. I have never seen such a problem which we could not receive (solve) all toger. Now in port we've got stocks of about 5 million tonnes, mostly it's corn, and wheat, and all stocks are blocked unfortunately, and we cannot stock it port because ports are blocked by Russians," said Mykola Horbachov, president of Ukrainian Grain Association.

Russia's invasion also caused transportation costs to soar.

price to deliver this year's harvested barley to closest Romanian port, Constanta, is now $160 to $180 per ton, up from $40 to $45.

And yet a farmer selling barley to a trer gets less than $100 per ton.

"(I) hope we will find solution how we open ports, because without opening port I don't think Ukrainian farmers will survive. And if Ukrainian farmers will not survive, we will not be able to feed African countries," he ded

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says war is endangering food supplies for many developing nations and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people.

"We can decrease our production, for example Ukraine in past season grew 107 million tone grain and oil seeds and our domestic consumption is less than 30 million. It's when we could export 70 million tons, but we did only 53 and mostly we did this before Russian invasion, because after invasion we exported just 5 million tons during past five months," said Horbachov.

country hasn't yet run out of storage as harvest begins.

Ukraine has about 65 million to 67 million tons of commercial grain storage capacity, according to Horbachov, although 20% of that is in Russian-occupied territories.

Farmers mselves can store 20 million to 25 million tons, but some of that is also in occupied areas.

By end of September, when harvest of corn and sunflower seeds begins, Ukraine will face a shortage of storage capacity.

FAO recently announced a $17 million project to help dress storage deficit. Heneghan of Gro Intelligence noted that one temporary solution could be providing farmers with silo bags for storage.