War hits Ukraine’s farms: Russian invasion threatens world’s breadbasket
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Ukrainian farmers have become something of folk heroes after numerous videos emerged of them using their tractors to tow away Russian tanks and other military equipment, following Ukrainian forces' battlefield victories. But in reality, the war has plunged Ukrainian agriculture into a crisis with global implications, given the country's importance to global supplies of grain and sunflower oil.
Because of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian farmer Oleksandr Kyrychyshyn currently has access to only 600 of his 5,000 hectares and only one of his eight tractors. Almost all his farming machinery is on land occupied by the enemy. He knows that this year's harvest will bear no comparison to previous years.
Liudmyla Kozyr, also a farmer, finds herself in a similar situation, adding that Ukraine's "black soil" normally feeds the country's population but also people "all over the world". She did not buy all the seeds that she needed before the war broke out and will now greatly struggle to do so.
Programme prepared by Jennie Shin.
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