Ukraine sows 75% of farmland for next harvest

Kyiv, Jun 8 (EFE).- Ukraine has sown 75% of the land it harvested last year despite “unprecedented challenges” the Russian invasion has posed, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian farmers are currently preparing for the next grain harvest, Shmyhal was cited by the local news agency Ukrainska Pravda as saying.

The government has been considering measures to boost the production capacities in the country’s western regions, which are the least affected by Russian shelling.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy is considering the possibility of establishing mobile grain storage units, which will provide further 10-15 million tons of storage capacity, the prime minister added.

“The government has taken all measures to ensure we could successfully carry out the most difficult sowing programme in history. Now we have to carry out the reaping and harvesting equally successfully,” Shmyhal said.

Some 23.5 million tons of grains and oilseeds are stuck in Ukraine due to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, the premier added.

To break the deadlock, Russia and Ukraine — the world’s largest grain producers — are negotiating how to unblock the ports with the mediation of Turkey.

rml-int/ta