KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian farmers may face a shortage of fertilisers for 2023 spring sowing and a lack of them could sharply reduce the harvest, a top agriculture official said on Tuesday.
Ukraine is a major grain grower and exporter, but its harvest could fall this year following the Russian invasion and occupation of a significant part of Ukrainian territory.
Most Ukrainian fertiliser plants were stopped due to the conflict and the first deputy farm minister Taras Vysotskiy said in a statement that production at two remaining plants had fallen to 1.1 million tonnes in 2022 from 5.2 million tonnes in 2021.
Part of the needs were covered by imports which rose to 4.3 million tonnes last year from 1.4 million tonnes a year before, Vysotskiy added. The decrease in fertiliser purchases total around 1.2 million tonnes.
“If a farmer applies less fertiliser by 30% or more, then the yield drop can be twofold,” Vysotskiy said.
The agriculture ministry has not issued the 2023 grain harvest outlook, while the economy ministry estimated the harvest at 49.5 million tonnes, compared with around 51 million tonnes in 2022.
Producers, however, see the output even smaller at 35 million tonnes to 40 million tonnes in 2023, including 12-15 million tonnes of wheat and 15-17 million tonnes of corn.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
