The losses inflicted on the agricultural sector of Ukraine as a result of the war amount to $4 billion to $6 billion, representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Viktoria Mykhalchuk has said.
“Preliminary estimates from June indicate that the losses inflicted on the agricultural sector as a result of the war are between $4 billion and $6 billion, including damage to infrastructure such as irrigation equipment, storage facilities, shipping and processing infrastructure, greenhouses, field crops, and farm animals,” Mykhalchuk said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
She noted that this year, according to FAO estimates, Ukraine expects to harvest up to 51 million tonnes of grain.
“Given the areas that were directly affected by the war, only 61 million tonnes of the total of 75 million storage facilities are physically accessible. Some 14% are damaged or destroyed, and 10% are located on the territory occupied by Russia,” Mykhalchuk said.
According to her, of the available storage facilities, 35% remain filled with 22 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which are awaiting export.
“That is, only 65% of the storage facilities are available,” the FAO spokeswoman explained.
Mykhalchuk said that FAO is also working with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on alternative ways to export grain from Ukraine.
“One of the alternative ways that we are currently supporting is exporting through Romania and helping the Izmail laboratory to increase its capacity so that certification takes place much faster and, accordingly, the number of exports, possibly through these borders, increases,” she said.
