In Crimea, 1.5 million metric tons of grain are stuck due to a lack of export opportunities

One and a half million metric tons of harvested grain are stuck in Crimea because it is completely impossible to export it. Due to the high cost of fuel and meager purchase prices, local farmers are on the verge of bankruptcy.

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This was reported by Cemaat.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Russia can no longer export grain through the Black Sea and Azov Sea ports. Transporting grain from Crimea to the Baltic Sea is too expensive and dangerous. This has created difficult conditions for local farmers.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>We did the math: our cost per metric ton came out to 14,000, because, as you remember, diesel used to cost a lot, and now they’re offering us 6 rubles per kilogram of wheat. And we’ll have to accept it—because the price won’t go any higher, and we still need to plant winter crops. Or do we? It’s a real dead end, to be honest,” said Zarina, co-owner of one of the farms in the Simferopol district. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

Farmer Mykhailo explained that the barley in his fields near Dzhankoy had withered, dried out, and fallen off the stalks back in July. He had the chance to buy fuel, but only at sky-high prices. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to recoup his costs, so he didn’t harvest the grain but left it in the field.

<span><span><span><span><span><span>“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” but I don’t drink champagne anyway. I didn’t take the risk—and I don’t regret it. Of course, I had my doubts about whether I was doing the right thing. But when I started calculating how much that grain would cost me, I realized that letting it go to waste now was more profitable than spending my last bit of money on diesel—only to lose it all anyway. At least this way</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>,</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>I’ll have something left to show for it</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>,” he noted. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

The occupying authorities have started talking about support for farmers, but in very vague and ambiguous terms. 

The peninsula’s Minister of Agriculture, Denis Kratyuk, acknowledged the grain surplus.

Earlier,<span><span><span><span><span><span>fuel tankers in Crimea began to be escorted by armed mobile fire teams. </span></span></span></span></span></span>An activist from Belogorsk told reporters that previously, pickup trucks from the Mobile Fire Groups (MFG) equipped with large-caliber machine guns had escorted fuel tankers only as far as Crimea from the Kherson region. Now, however, they have also appeared on Crimean highways. 

Юлія Калабайда