A year of war in Ukraine: this is what farmers are going through today

A year of war in Ukraine: this is what farmers are going through today

Writing of AGRARHEUTE*

© Chris McCullough

Bombed farms, pressures and threats from the Russian occupier are part of the daily life of Ukrainian farmers.

For a year now, war has been raging in Ukraine. We asked how the farmers in the occupied regions are doing today.

© Chris McCullough

Farms in occupied Ukrainian territories are under Russian occupation. They threaten and pressure Ukrainian farmers. If the farmers refuse, the soldiers resort to violence.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. The war has been raging for a year now. Ukrainian farmers from areas occupied by Russian soldiers are forced to cede their land to the Russians and pay taxes to Russia. If they refuse, the Russians threaten Ukrainian farmers with physical violence and destroy their farms. Information on how these farmers are forced to operate their farms has been provided to the Ukrainian Agri-Council. All farmers’ names have been changed for security reasons, as it is not known when these areas will be liberated again.

Russian pressure: farmers must take Russian citizenship

© Chris McCullough

Many machines on the farms no longer work. Spare parts are missing. In addition, many farms were bombed.

« Farmers in occupied areas cannot work properly. They lack spare parts, seeds and fertilizer », explains Andriy Dykun, director of the Ukrainian Agricultural Council (UAC). « Supply chains are interrupted and it is almost impossible to sell the crops. There are checkpoints on the roads, permanent searches and threats. The occupiers are constantly pressuring farmers to register their farms under Russian law. Recently, they also demand that they take Russian citizenship “, continues the manager of the Ukrainian Agricultural Council.

Farmers who are politically active and who support the Ukrainian state, as well as those who refuse to re-register their activities under Russian law and cooperate with the occupation authorities, are the first to be targeted. ” If they do not register their farm in the occupied territories in accordance with Russian law, the farm will be confiscated. The owner and employees will be interrogated and probably incarcerated by the Russians.

Occupied territories of Zaporizhia: agriculture is almost no longer possible

Mr. Oleksandr Gladchuk has been operating his farm since 2002 in the Zaporizhia region. At the start of the war, he cultivated 1,460 ha and raised 170 dairy cows. Normally, the farm paid about $83,000 in taxes a year and employed about 50 local people. The first armored personnel carriers of the invaders entered the village on February 29, 2022 – since then the exploitation has been slowly declining. ” All the cows were slaughtered because the dairy was closed. Then the machines broke down one after the other, for lack of spare parts », raconte M. Oleksandr Gladchuk. « Very little of the harvest was sold and at a very low price. The Russians constantly threatened me for not declaring the farm according to their laws. They took everything from my neighbor because he refused to cooperate with them. »

Due to constant threats, Mr. Oleksandr Gladchuk had to leave the farm. It is now taken care of by the workers who were unable to leave it. ” They work and earn their living he says. Most farmers stay in occupied areas because they still have fall crops and try to harvest as much as possible. None of them, however, knows how the harvest will be sold. ” We are waiting for the victory and the liberation of the occupied territories, but if this is delayed, the farmers do not plan to grow anything next year », explains Mr. Oleksandr Gladchuk.

Flight from Luhansk: a farmer refuses to submit to the occupier and must abandon his farm

The farm of Mr. Serhii Pavlovskyi is located in a village in the Luhansk region. It was here that the occupiers arrived on the morning of February 24, 2022. As he strongly supported the Ukrainian state, Serhii had to abandon his 1,300-hectare farm and a 15-year-old 150-hectare apple orchard. The workers managed to develop some economic activity, but this was only enough to pay wages and maintain the farm. In the Kherson region, the occupiers nationalized Ukrainian grain.

In some cases, the Russian military forced farmers to sign an agreement stipulating that up to 70 percent of the future harvest would go to the occupiers. According to the farmers, the Russian invaders demand that they pay the taxes they have paid so far in Ukraine via accounts in Russian banks or in cash to the occupation authorities. In the so-called ” town halls there is a specific person in charge of receiving the money.

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* Source : A year of war in Ukraine: How farmers are doing today | agrarheute.com