Ukraine’s other fight: growing food for itself and the world following Russian invasion

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine raised spectre of wheat shortages, including to the World Food Programme which gets about half its wheat from Ukraine

Many farmers will not be able to plant or tend to their harvests with the war raging, while others have been forced to the front lines

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Combine harvesters work in the wheat field in Vinnitsa state in western Ukraine. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:53pm, 29 Mar 2022Updated: 7:54pm, 29 Mar 2022

Planting season has arrived in Ukraine. Boot marks stamped in the frozen earth have thawed. But the Pavlovych family’s fields remain untouched in a lonely landscape of checkpoints and churches.

Over a week ago, the family learned their 25-year-old soldier son, Roman, had been killed near the besieged city of Mariupol. On Tuesday, the father, also named Roman, will leave for the war himself.

“The front line is full of our best people. And now they are dying,” said the mother, Maria. In tears, she sat in her son’s bedroom in their warm brick home, his medals and photos spread before her.

Maria and her husband Roman Pavlovych remember their 25-year-old soldier son, also named Roman, who was killed near the besieged city of Mariupol. The father, also named Roman, will soon leave for the war himself. Photo: AP

The Pavlovych family knows a second front line in Russia’s war runs through the farmland here in western Ukraine, far from the daily resistance against the invasion. It is an uphill battle for farmers to feed not only their country but the world.

Ukraine and Russia account for a third of global wheat and barley exports, leaving millions across North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia facing the potential loss of access to the affordable supplies they need for bread and noodles.

The war has raised the spectre of food shortages and political instability in countries reliant on Ukrainian wheat, including Indonesia, Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon.

It is unclear how many farmers will be able to plant or tend to their harvests with the war raging, forcing those like Pavlovych to the front lines. And the challenges keep growing.