Ukraine's agriculture is changing because of the war

International Desk: The ongoing war has made it difficult for Ukraine to both grow and export wheat. So farmers are turning to oil producing crops. The country's government is thinking about exporting this oil with the help of Poland. According to Deutsche Welle, about 35 percent of agricultural land is not growing winter crops this year because of the war. It goes without saying that the production will decrease a lot as a result. The list of crops includes wheat, rye, barley and mustard. Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, said that last year's harvest was still there, and it was not possible to export it. So there will be no crisis in the internal market. He hopes that the harvest will be good this year as well. A deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July saw Russia lift its blockade of Ukrainian ports. Now grain ships from Ukraine can leave the port. But farmers are still worried about the future. They are worried about what will happen when the contract expires. So farmers started growing more oilseed producing crops. Mustard is one of them. Like soybeans and sunflowers, mustard is a winter crop in Ukraine. The price of foodgrains in the country has come down a lot due to high grain stocks. Moreover, the cost of production has also increased. As a result, it has become difficult for them to raise money by cultivating food grains. On the other hand, the cost of production of oilseeds is low and reasonable prices are available. That is why farmers are known to be leaning towards this. However, although Ukraine produces oilseeds, they have very little capacity to process oil from the seeds. Earlier they only exported oilseeds. Before the war, Ukraine supplied half of the world's sunflower seeds. But now it is not possible like that. Therefore, the government is encouraging investment in oil processing. Ukraine has taken an unusual initiative to send the produced oil out of the country. On September 6, they took the initiative to lay a pipeline with Poland. With that, oil will be sent out of the country for export. The Deputy Minister of Agriculture is very optimistic about this step. No other country in the world has built such a pipeline. They think that the market will change through this.