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The war in Ukraine
By Simon Boas, executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid
W
e are all now familiar with the Ukrainian national flag, which can be seen over even the quietest hamlet and green lane in Jersey, but not everyone understands its symbolism. Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers in the world, and its flag’s colours represent peaceful blue skies over vast golden wheat fields. As I discovered when I visited aid organisations and warehouses in Eastern Poland in April, Russia’s murderous invasion means we all need to think about that yellow stripe. At the civil-military coordination briefing in Rzeszow, the General from the US 82nd Airborne Division spelt it out clearly: farmers will struggle to bring in July’s harvest. Diesel and other essential supplies are harder to obtain, and (although exempt from conscription) many agricultural workers have joined up to fight.
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Furthermore, with the Black Sea ports blockaded, farmers will not be able to sell existing stocks, meaning they will lack the funds to pay workers, maintain equipment, and buy seed and fertiliser. This also means the country lacks silo space even to store the 2022 harvest. This has grave consequences for all of us, but particularly for the hungriest and least stable countries in the world.
Ukraine produced about 40 million tonnes of wheat last year, and an additional 50 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, barley and maize. Grain exports are forecast to be down by at least a quarter, and in the first month of the war the global price of staple cereals rose by 20 percent to their highest levels on record.
