Ukrainian farmers' losses from droughts late this spring and early this summer amount to Hr 13.6 billion, according to rough estimates, said Serhiy Kvasha, the director of the Agriculture and Food Ministry's economic development and agrarian market department.
“We say that producers’ losses from weather and climate conditions in
Ukraine, according to preliminary estimates as of July 19 amount to Hr
13.6 billion. These are the losses from shortages of crops compared to
last year that are estimated in selling prices fixed as of today,” he
told reporters in Kyiv on July 24.
In his words, the most challenging situation is in the southern
regions where the shortage of wheat and barley, according to the
ministry, has reached 5.89 million tonnes worth Hr 10.223 billion.
Kvasha said that the highest losses were suffered by farmers in
Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions. According to him, the average
grain yield in those regions is 16.2 centners per hectare, which was 12
centners per hectare down on the previous year.
Kvasha says he believes an increase in grain prices could partially
offset the losses. However, this does not apply to the southern regions
whose yields are rather low.
He did not rule out that the government might provide aid to the drought-hit regions.
