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On October 29, Russia announced it had quit the “grain deal” brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to allow Ukraine to export grain by the Black Sea. Moscow presented its move as a response to an alleged attack by Ukraine on the Russian fleet around Sevastopol city. Despite Russia’s warnings, a group of ships loaded with grain nonetheless exited through the safe corridor, exporting grain that had been loaded in Ukrainian ports. Shortly thereafter, Russia made a U-turn and announced it would return to the agreement after negotiations with Turkey. Moscow cited “written guarantees” from Ukraine that Kyiv would not use this corridor for military purposes or attacks against Russia.

This brief spat over the deal, which to that point had worked for all parties, left a mixed impression. On the one hand, Russia’s actions underscored that the agreement was vulnerable and weak, and made clear Moscow’s readiness to abandon it at any moment it saw fit. On the other hand, Turkey’s intervention, which secured the continuation of the deal and convinced the Kremlin to rejoin it, illustrated the significant influence Ankara wields in the Black Sea, both as a key interlocutor between parties and as a counteracting player to Russia.

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi met with Deputy Country Director of the World Food Programme in Ukraine Marianne Ward.

As a part of regular negotiations in the process of execution of the initiative «Grain from Ukraine» the parties discussed the current state of things and further steps for the implementation of the humanitarian food program.

Rural households, smallholder farmers and small-scale agricultural enterprises will benefit from a $15.5 million project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to support the functioning, reinforcement and strengthening of value chains in agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and their adaptation to the wartime conditions. 

The project will focus on supporting producers in Lvivska, Ivano-Frankivska, Zakarpatska and parts of Chernivetska oblast with matching grants for on-farm and value chain-based investments coupled with extension and advisory support. 

Mr. Taras Vysotskyi, the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, spoke in the national information telethon «United News» about the upcoming spring sowing campaign, the problems with grain exports and why the food initiative «Grain from Ukraine» supports not only African countries, but also Ukrainian farmers.

According to his opinion, while last year as of February 24, 2022 the agrarians were fully prepared for the sowing campaign, now there is a problem with liquidity, availability of finance, which complicates and slows down the preparation for field work. At the same time, the farmers are strongly intended to work.