GENEVA (dpa-AFX) – According to the UN Agricultural Organization (FAO), around 700,000 tons of grain have disappeared in Ukraine. FAO deputy director Josef Schmidhuber assumes that Russian forces brought grain to their homeland. “There is anecdotal evidence that (Russian forces) are stealing grain and trucking it to Russia,” Schmidhuber told reporters in Geneva on Friday at a UN briefing. There are also credible reports of Russian forces stealing farm equipment and destroying warehouses. There are videos on social media that suggest the thefts, and he believes these videos are credible, Schmidhuber said.
According to him, Ukraine should have 14 million tons of grain available for export this year, in other years 25 million tons were available for export or winter storage. However, the ports are blocked and transport by truck or train is very difficult.
According to Schmidhuber, 50 percent of the summer crops have already been planted in the Ukraine, and this year it should be 70 percent of the usual amount. The uncertainty in all forecasts is great because of the acts of war.
Until the beginning of the war, Ukraine was one of the world’s most important producers of wheat and a major producer of corn. Many countries, for example in North Africa, are dependent on cheap wheat from Ukraine. The grain is also crucial for global food aid./oe/DP/jha