“I work closely with our European partners to bring 20 million tons of wheat to market to help lower food prices,” said US President Joe Biden at a conference in Philadelphia last night. Now the United States will build temporary silos on the border with Ukraine. Hanna Shelest, defense analyst based at Odesa, believes that Biden’s proposal will help a lot. – The problem is not only exports. There is also a large amount of storage. Getting silos at the border will solve the storage problem. It will make things move faster, says Shelest. – You can get the grain to the border, but the neighboring countries do not have the same opportunity to store the grain at the coast. Ukraine has mainly transported the grain by ship. Due to the war, this has become almost impossible due to mines in the sea. About 90 percent of Ukrainian wheat was previously transported by ship. Due to mines, several ships are stuck. Photo: DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP Grain is part of the warfare Russia has attacked many agricultural areas, according to Reuters. – From the first days of the war, Russia has destroyed grain facilities and silos in the southern part of Ukraine, Hanna Shelest says. Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a third of the world’s wheat exports. Hanna Shelest believes Russia will use the war to eat off Ukraine’s market. – In Kherson, the first thing they did was to rob the silos. Now they are trying to sell them to land in the Middle East, says Shelest. Ukrainian agriculture has been attacked during the war. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / APPhoto: Efrem Lukatsky / AP New routes have opened up through the Baltic Sea to transport grain, but the volume is much lower than before the war. Russia has previously said it is willing to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain. But Shelest believes there are many challenges that stand in the way of being able to export grain through the sea. Ukrainians believe the Black Sea is the best way to export grain. But to achieve this, Ukrainian authorities have stated that they require “effective security guarantees”. – Firstly, it is about the safety of the ships. Russia has placed mines in the gates that are mainly uncontrolled, says Shelest and adds: – The other challenge is the security of the Ukrainian coast. Demining the coast could invite a new Russian offensive, says Shelest. Vulnerable food system – As I see it, it is not possible to completely replace the supply from Russia and Ukraine this season, says Ola Westengen, associate professor at NMBU to news. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to high food prices in the world. It is especially in Africa and the Middle East that the effects are already being felt. But food prices have also risen in Europe. According to Westengen, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed a vulnerability in the world food system. Ukraine’s agriculture minister told Reuters the wheat shortage would last for three seasons. In the future, we must spread the risk even more and get more diversity in the food system. We must become less dependent on the large production areas and spread power in the supply chains, says Westengen.
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US to build temporary silos on the border with Ukraine – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
