On the air of the national marathon UAtogether with the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotsky said that in connection with the Russian aggression against Ukraine, there was an urgent need to change approaches to guarantors of food security, which is Ukraine. After all, there are many countries in the world that depend on agricultural imports.
As Taras Vysotsky noted: “Ukraine is a world leader-exporter of food.” Our country’s products are imported by Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Ukraine is one of the five largest exporters of agricultural products. For the countries of the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, the issue of supplying our products is a matter of life or hunger. In these countries, reserves are usually only enough for 2-3 months of consumption. “Our war has been going on for more than two months. Reserves are running low, and Ukrainian ports are still blocked, “Taras Vysotsky said.
There are no international guarantees yet for this food to be delivered systematically. Mechanisms are needed to ensure the security of exporting countries, as well as the ability to transport products without any port blockages and delays in exporting products. It should be noted that our state annually feeds, in addition to its population, about 400 million people. Most of these people may face hunger.
According to the First Deputy Minister, the rise in prices of products is caused by the transportation of agricultural products by rail or road. Because today, in order to deliver products, for example through Polish ports, you have to cover a distance three to four times longer. Rising logistics are making products more expensive, respectively. World prices for agricultural products have risen to 30% in some places.
Because the countries that import our products tend to have a low level of welfare for them, in addition to the fact that the product is physically smaller, it is even less available due to rising prices.
“Ukraine has clearly stated in the international arena that it does not stop exports and does not block them. Everything we do not need for domestic consumption, we are ready to supply. Moreover, on our initiative, new checkpoints, new terminals, new facilities on the western border are being opened to increase these exports. We want to fulfill all the obligations to our partners, which have been formed in recent years and which we have never failed, “Taras Vysotsky concluded.