Caution and uncertainty dominate a Ukrainian farmer's fragile grain business despite the extension of the grain deal on Wednesday (May 17).
The U.N. and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal for an initial 120 days in July 2022 to help tackle a global food crisis that has been aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, one of the world's leading grain exporters.
Grain farmer Mykola Maliienko, who farms 1,300 hectares an hour's drive south from Ukraine's capital Kyiv, described the grain deal between Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey as "a small achievement," as exporting remains a logistical challenge to everyone involved.
He mainly grows wheat, soy, and peas, and said he was still skeptical of Russia's part in the deal, accusing it of delaying inspections in Istanbul.
Ukraine had been putting forward daily a list of ships to be authorized in Istanbul, where a joint coordination center (JCC) is based. Once approved those ships are then inspected by the JCC officials near Turkey before traveling to a Ukrainian Black Sea port via a maritime humanitarian corridor to collect their cargo and return to Turkish waters for a final inspection.
Ukrainian officials have said that since mid-April, Russia has "unreasonably restricted" the work of the deal. Russia has denied this.
"This is another small victory, which can turn into a defeat at any moment. If Russia again delays ship inspections and inspects each ship ten times... this advantage (extension) does not give a hundred percent confidence in further significant progress," Maliienko said, talking to Reuters in his grain storage.
In his storage facilities, most of the 2022 pea harvest remains unsold as potential buyers refuse to pay Maliienko's seller price of 10,000 hryvnias (250 U.S. dollars) per ton.
The 67-year-old farmer started farming in 1996, growing his business from 33 rented hectares to 1,300 self-owned hectares and 50 people on his payroll.
Maliienko said he sells most of his harvest as seeds to other Ukrainian farmers, who then sow and grow for export.
He added that before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, "the price of wheat was in between 250 and 320 dollars per ton. Well, today a ton costs 160 dollars."
Ukraine welcomed the extension but a senior official said Russia must not be allowed to sabotage the agreement and must stop using food "as a weapon and blackmail."
Still nostalgic for pre-war prices, Maliienko recalled a recent conversation with another farmer.
"One of my colleagues said, how stupid were we not to understand that we used to live in paradise before the war. There were all conditions for agricultural production.
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