Ukrainian farmers suffer from drought — losses exceed €25 million

Farmers in southern Ukraine are facing a record drought. According to preliminary estimates, more than 55,000 hectares of crops have been affected. In monetary terms, farmers' losses have already exceeded €25 million. This was reported by members of the UAC.

According to Andrii Dykun, chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council, farmers in the Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk regions are complaining about a terrible drought. Due to the losses, these farms will be forced to stop their activities and are unlikely to be able to carry out the next sowing season.

"Today, a crisis of unprecedented scale has arisen. Farmers have not seen such a drought in the last 25 years. The losses are enormous. We are talking about the Kherson region, part of the Mykolaiv region, and the Dnipropetrovsk region. In the Mykolaiv region, dozens of agricultural producers have lost more than 80% of their crops. The situation poses a threat to the region's food security," says Andrii Dykun.

He adds that farmers in these regions have been working under the constant threat of occupation, shelling, and mining for the fourth year in a row, and now they are facing a record drought caused by drastic climate change after the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP, abnormally high temperatures in March this year, practically no rainfall in the spring, and late April frosts.

"In many farms, the seed base has been completely destroyed, there is nothing to sow in the fall, some enterprises are already on the verge of bankruptcy, and without state support, the situation will lead to their complete bankruptcy and job losses. This will have dire consequences for the southern regions, especially the Kherson region. The inability to farm will lead to the depopulation of this area as uninhabitable, which will significantly complicate the Armed Forces' task of protecting it from Russian aggression," the farmers emphasize.

The problem is exacerbated by the lack of state support. President Volodymyr Zelensky has not signed a bill for three months that would freeze loan payments for farmers in temporarily occupied and frontline territories until the end of the war and for another year after that. This also applies to the southern de-occupied regions affected by drought.

"Bill No. 1214-8, which was given the number 4340-IX after being passed by the Verkhovna Rada in the second reading, urgently needs to be signed by the president. This law is vital for farmers whose property, farms, equipment, and crops are currently in territories temporarily occupied by Russian troops. Ukrainian farmers lost everything there and left for the territory controlled by Ukraine, but they still have credit obligations for the lost property," Andrii Dykun emphasizes.

Unfortunately, the document has been in the Office of the President of Ukraine for over two months. The UAC receives numerous appeals from farmers asking to speed up the signing of the law, as it is critically important for farmers who have lost their ability to work, are left without income and property, but are still on the debtor registers and under pressure from banking institutions.