WASHINGTON - Spring planting of corn, soybeans and sunflowers will drop “at least 30%” in Ukraine because of the war, says Leonid Kozachenko, president of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.

* Overall production of the spring-planted crops will drop “at least 40 to 45%” and depend on supplies of fertilizer, pesticides and diesel fuel, all of which are in short supply, he
says

* The war’s impact will not be as great on winter wheat, which already has been planted, with production down “not more than 20%” compared with last year

* Mining of farmland by Russian troops is also hindering planting

* “About 50,000 hectares is closed because of mines put there by Russian troops. Every day they place more,” he says

* Ukraine has about 33 million hectares of arable land, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization

* Kozachenko spoke during a Zoom call on the war’s impact hosted by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Dorning in Washington at mdorning@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

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