The war in Ukraine

By Simon Boas, executive director of Jersey Overseas Aid

We 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. 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.

This huge increase will have a massive impact on countries reliant on imports or food aid. Eighteen of the world’s poorest countries – including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - import more than half their grain from Ukraine and Russia. The World Food Programme also bought 50 percent of its grain last year from Ukraine, and is spending about 50 million more a month to buy the same amount of food as last year. It estimates an additional 47 million people could be pushed into chronic hunger. Meanwhile, higher wheat prices are already fomenting unrest in some countries, just as they did before the Arab Spring.

Jersey’s Overseas Aid programme (JOA) will continue to help the people of Ukraine suffering under Russia’s barbaric war. By May the Island had already given over 2 million in support, including 4,000 trauma kits and other vital supplies for medics, and essential items for some of the millions of refugees who have fled to Poland, Moldova and Slovakia. Over £750,000 has been raised through the Bailiff’s Ukraine Appeal, and JOA also helped ensure that the 14 lorryloads of items donated by the public at Parish Halls reached the right people. But we will also have to step up our efforts in places like Yemen and the Horn of Africa to ensure that those facing starvation – as some people reading this article were in 1945 – can feed their children. Ukraine’s flag stands for food, as well as freedom, and both are under threat.

If you would like to donate to the Bailiff’s Ukraine Appeal, please visit www.sidebyside.je

Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) is responsible for distributing the funding raised through the Bailiff's Ukraine Appeal. Jersey Side by Side is coordinating the fundraising efforts on the Island. You can read about the support given so far at www.joa.je/bailiffs-ukraine-appeal/

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