The state recommends that farmers sow crops with the maximum unit value, so that in the face of problems in the country with the export of agricultural products due to the military invasion of the terrorist country of the Russian Federation, they receive maximum revenue from the sale of relatively small batches of agricultural raw materials, according to the website of the department with reference to its head Nikolai Solsky.
At the same time, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food on the air of the “UA-marathon” on Monday advised agricultural producers to grow high-margin and relatively easy-to-logistics sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans. According to the agency, the biggest challenge for the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex remains the issue of exporting agricultural crops from the country.
“A significant limitation of export logistics opportunities directly affects how much grain farmers and agrarians can sell – respectively, how much money they need to get for wages, sowing, payments to tenants, and the like. This is the most difficult thing,” the minister said. According to Solsky, due to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy expects in 2022 a reduction in the sown area of spring crops by 20.5%, or 3.5 million hectares – to 13.44 million hectares from 16.92 million hectares in 2021 year.
The Minister also pointed to the presence of a certain forecasted shortage of fuel, but at the moment Ukrainian farmers have access to fuel for sowing. “It is clear that the sowing season is just beginning, and the amount of fuel needs to be increased, but in a market economy with such an enterprising conscious people as ours, especially with farmers, a solution will be found,” he stressed.
At the same time, it is clarified that the priorities of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy at present are the establishment of logistics, enabling farmers to continue working and earning income, keeping businesses from closing, providing shareholder the opportunity to receive rent, as well as employment of workers in the agro-industrial complex. Solsky emphasized in the message that today all states need to adequately and deeply understand the complexity of the situation and make every effort to stop the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. “After all, any continuation of the war is a rise in the cost of products for all countries, including even those who had not thought about it before,” the minister summed up.
As reported, as of April 1, Ukraine sowed 0.60 million hectares with basic agricultural crops, which is 4.4% of the 13.44 million hectares planned for the current season.
Sowing of spring crops has already started in 21 regions of Ukraine, whereas last year 15 regions started sowing on the same date. The total area sown with spring barley as of April 1 amounted to 327.3 thousand hectares, spring wheat – 81.0 thousand hectares, peas – 62.3 thousand hectares, oats – 50.1 thousand hectares, sunflower – 33.7 thousand hectares ha, sugar beet – 30.6 thousand ha, soybean – 10.4 thousand ha, spring rapeseed – 7.6 thousand ha. Due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, a decrease in the sown areas of high-margin crops (sunflower and corn) is expected this season, while increasing the sown areas of crops that are easier to produce, but important in terms of food security – peas, barley and oats.
Almost all inhabitants of the Earth breathe air, the level of pollution of which poses a threat to their health, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Almost all the inhabitants of the planet (99%) breathe air that is polluted in excess of acceptable quality standards established by WHO and therefore poses a threat to health,” the organization said in a press release to the air quality report. It notes that people everywhere breathe “air with high concentrations of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, with the highest levels of exposure in low- and middle-income countries.”
According to the report, air pollution can lead to serious health problems. For example, particulate matter enters the human lungs and enters the circulatory system, which can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, in particular asthma.
WHO is calling on authorities around the world to step up action to improve air quality, including switching to clean household energy and stricter vehicle emissions standards.
The WHO Air Quality Report and Database 2022 has been released ahead of World Health Day, which is observed annually on 7 April.
According to Spiegel, the German Foreign Ministry declared 40 employees of the Russian embassy persona non grata, the head of the ministry, Annalena Burbock, confirmed the decision to expel, but did not name the exact number of employees.
“The federal government today decided to declare undesirable a significant number of employees of the Russian embassy who here in Germany worked daily against our freedom and the unity of our society. Their work is a threat to those who seek our protection. We will not tolerate this” , Burbock said, quoted by the press service of the ministry.
Burbock said the Russian ambassador was informed of the decision on Monday.
The medical group of companies Adonis has not stopped the work of Kyiv clinics since the beginning of hostilities, and has resumed elective pediatric surgery at a clinic in Shalimov Street, the medical network told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
“Adonis did not stop work in Shalimov Street during the period of hostilities. We switched to the format of a military field hospital. We provide assistance around the clock to the wounded and the civilian population,” Olena Mukhina, the deputy medical director of the medical group, said.
According to her, the clinic in Shalimov Street “was not originally intended for military needs, but we decided to reformat it.”
Mukhina noted that the clinic, having three specialties working around the clock – obstetrics and gynecology, pediatric surgery, anesthesiology, maximally covers the needs of the civilian population.
“Even births in emergency conditions were taken, not being a maternity hospital in fact,” she said.
Mukhina said that the Shalimov clinic plans to resume consultations with an endocrinologist in the near future.
“Requests for elective surgeries have declined, but there are,” she said.
In turn, the director of the Adonis branch in Spaska Street, Kyrylo Kretov, also noted that due to the war, the number of scheduled operations has decreased.
“The clinic in Spaska did not stop its work. We provide emergency care to wounded soldiers and civilians. We carry out planned operations: general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics-traumatology, proctology. We conduct outpatient appointments,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed bilateral relations between the countries and Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine in a telephone conversation, the Anadolu agency reported on Monday.
“The Turkish President, in a conversation with the German Chancellor, noted the importance of strengthening relations between Turkey and Germany, supporting close cooperation at all levels,” the agency reports.
Erdogan also stressed Turkey’s efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine due to the war unleashed by Russia. The President of Turkey has repeatedly taken the initiative to organize negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Turkish territory, and also noted that Turkey will be ready in the future to act as one of the guarantors of Ukraine’s security, but this issue needs to be studied in more detail.
The vast majority (79.2%) of refugees from Ukraine intend to return to their homeland after the end of the war, and only 10.9% do not plan to return, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Sociological Service of the Razumkov Center at checkpoints in the Transcarpathian region from March 15 to April 1.
During the survey, 101 respondents over 16 years old were interviewed, who were traveling from Ukraine on foot or by road. 89.1% are sure that Ukraine will win this war, only 1% are sure that it will lose, the rest found it difficult to answer.
83.2% of refugees are women. 63.4% travel with their children and only 12.9% on their own.
36.6% – leaving the country at the age of 30-39, 25.7% – 40-49 years old, 18.8% – 16-29 years old, 10.9% – over 60 years old and 7.9% at the age of 50 -59 years old.
The relative majority of refugees are from Kyiv and Kharkov regions (18.8% each), slightly less from Kiev (11.9%), Donetsk (7.9%), Zaporozhye (6.9%), Mykolaiv, Odessa, Kherson ( by 5%) regions. No one left Volyn, Lvov, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil regions. 55.4% stated that they left the settlement where the hostilities took place, 12.9% – that the hostilities took place nearby, 9.9% – that there were no hostilities, but their locality was bombarded or shelled, 13.9 % – that this happened in a neighboring settlement, and only 7.9 noted that there were no hostilities and shooting either in their settlement or nearby.
26.7% reported that they received assistance from government agencies, 53.5% – from volunteers, 8.9% – from religious organizations, 6.9% – from enterprises (including at the place of work), 40, 6% – from relatives and friends, 44.6% – from unfamiliar fellow citizens, only 20.8% received no help at all. 63.4% of refugees said that the language of communication at home is Russian (only 30.7% – Ukrainian), but only 21.8% called Russian their native language (Ukrainian 65.3%, 4% named another language).
