Ukraine estimates that its grain harvest will decline by about 40% in 2022

A Ukrainian official told AFP on Friday that the country's grain harvest has fallen by about 40% year-on-year due to the war.

"We expect a grain harvest of 65-66 million tons" by the end of the year, after a record harvest of 106 million tons last year, said Sergei Ivashchenko, head of the Ukrainian Grain Association.

"The ports were closed. He broke the cycle," Ivashchenko said, by cutting off the farmers' source of income.

"That, and the war of course, means that farmers did not have enough money to buy fertilizers as their yields decreased," he explained.

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