How to avert the world food crisis by supporting Ukraine

Ukrainе is constantly among the five of the world’s leading exporters of grains and legumes. As an export-oriented country now suffering from war, Ukraine needs support to continue exporting agricultural products to the EU, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. As long as the south of Ukraine, rich with fields, stays occupied, the global food crisis is deepening.

The destruction of the Ukrainian agricultural sector: the consequences of Russian terror starting from the 24th of February 2022 are huge.

The world food crisis is already here. For example, global bread prices have risen nearly 20% since February after the war halted Black Sea grain exports for several months and limited fertilizer shipments.

Despite military actions, the occupation of ports, and a lack of harvest, Ukraine has already sent  280,000 tons of agricultural products specifically for the needs of third-world countries: 54 ships with 1.04 million tons were sent to Asia, 16 ships with 0.47 million tons to Africa. Also, two additional ships chartered directly by the UN World Food Program have already been sent with more than 60,000 tons of wheat on board for the people of Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia. These statistics entirely refute Russia’s false narratives that Ukraine is only interested in cooperation with America and the EU. 

All those results would not be possible without the weapons and funds as well as diplomatic support Ukraine receives from its allies. Ukrainians have proved they know how to use granted resouces to fight the enemy on the battlefield by successfully de-occupating eastern territories.

Now, to keep up with the military success, Ukraine needs support to survive the winter and avert a worldwide food crisis. What are the possible solutions:

• Deoccupation of the traditional sea routes of export and ports by providing weapons for the counter-offensive on the south of Ukraine;
• Expand overland export corridors via the EU;
• Discounts and soft loan programs for equipment and agricultural machinery
• Improve quotas for Ukrainian products and cancellation of customs duty for export
• Provide innovative storage and logistics solutions

Ukrainian PR Army works daily with journalists, opinion leaders, governments, and experts. Feel free to connect to get the contact of the following experts on this topic:

• Alex Lissitsa, Leading specialist in agribusiness and food industry sectors of the economy  and president of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club
• Petro Melnyk, Executive Director, Agricom Group
• Kateryna Rybachenko, General Director, Agro-Region
• Mustafa Nayyem, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine
• Vasyl Shkurakov, First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine
• Yurii Vaskov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Export – data:
World food losses due to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine reach 20 million tons of agricultural products. 
Ukraine is the fourth largest agricultural exporter in the EU. It’s a global provider of barley, corn, and wheat. Last year, Ukraine provided 12.8% of total global corn exports and 10.5% of wheat exports. It’s also the largest exporter of sunflower oil. In 2021, Ukraine received 40% of worldwide revenue for sunflower oil exports. The UN World Food Program (WFP) sources almost half of its supplies from Ukraine. This means that cancelled shipments from Odessa will affect West Africa and other countries at high risk of hunger. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, and Yemen all largely depend on Ukraine’s wheat through WFP food procurements.