The Collapse of Our Wheat Barns

The war has stolen many of the people’s livelihoods. Artillery explosions and mines have not only impacted their wheat barns but their mental states as well because now most their land is uncultivable.

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

ILubov Ivanivna, 62, shows rotting wheat in her barn in the village of Mala Rohan, Kharkiv province, Ukraine, July 5, 2022. As a result of Russian artillery attacks on the village in February-March 2022, several parts of Ivanivna's wheat barn were damaged and caused 50 tons of her crops to rot.

Wheat farmers and businesses in Ukraine are reeling from the effects of the war. Crop stocks and wheat granaries were damaged. Most fields are uncultivable because of the many mines and explosives.

Lubov Ivanivna (62) staggered into her barn. The barn is tunnel-shaped, fractured and full of holes. Then she stopped to reveal the rotting wheat crops.

Of the 70 tons of wheat harvest stored in the barn, only 20 tons are left. “Fifty tons are rotten and cannot be sold because the barn is full of cracks and holes, letting rainwater in,” said the grandmother of two grandchildren when we met her at her barn in Mala Rohan village, Kharkiv, Ukraine on Tuesday (5/7/2022).

Initially, Ivanivna was going to sell 60 tons of her 70-ton harvest, while 10 tons would be set aside for animal feed. Referring to the price of wheat before the war began, Ivanivna has lost at least 500,000 hryvnia (US$16,905.55) because 50 tons of her wheat harvest have rotted.

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When Mala Rohan village was attacked by Russia in February-March 2022, artillery attacks and shells also hit the wheat barn and several other buildings in Ivanivna’s agricultural complex. Several buildings collapsed and parts of the barn was damaged. Some agricultural machines and cars are also full of bullet holes.

Moreover, as many as 143 cattle and pigs died due to Russian artillery attacks. Ivanivna estimates that losses due to dead livestock and damage to agricultural machinery due to explosions amount to around US$140,000. “That figure does not include the damaged and destroyed buildings,” said Ivanivna.

For now, the remaining 20 tons of wheat will be stored as food reserves for autumn and winter. Almost all Ivanivna’s wheat fields, spanning nearly 7 hectares, cannot be used because they are still full of mines and explosives. Ivanivna added that one of her workers even died from running over a mine while driving a tractor.

Apart from wheat fields, Ivanivna also owns sunflower fields. However, she was unable to sell the 18 tons of sunflower-seed harvest because the port and modes of transportation to reach it were still blocked.

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

Lubov Ivanivna (62) holds the head of her pet cow in the village of Mala Rohan, Kharkiv Province, Ukraine, Tuesday (5/7/2022). Russian artillery attacks on the village in February-March 2022, killed 143 of its livestock and damaged its grain barn.

Peddling

Currently, Ivanivna is also unable to sell the milk and meat from her remaining cattle. Most of her customers can no longer afford to buy milk and meat due to the war. As a result, Ivanivna must find another way to survive.

Now, she is forced to make money by traveling to residents of Mala Rohan village and other villages to peddle cheese and milk at half the usual price. “Otherwise, I won’t have any money,” said Ivanivna, who has been a farmer for 18 years.

Ivan Oleksandrovich (62), an agricultural businessman in Mala Rohan, also bore the same impact. He is an agricultural business leader with 15 employees managing 1,000 hectares of land, 253 ha of which are wheat fields.

Most of his company’s wheat fields, whose area amounts to three times more than Ivanivna’s fields, now cannot be cultivated or harvested. Many mines have not been defused on his land.

“There are more than 100 bomb holes on this land. There should have been 600 tons of wheat that could be harvested from this land, but 150 tons are damaged,” said Oleksandrovich during an inspection of one side of his 35-ha wheat field.

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Rockets and cluster bombs were also found scattered across Oleksandrovich’s company. The scattered rockets and mortars he collected were placed in the front yard of his office. His barn was also badly damaged.

Oleksandrovich does not know how much loss his company had to bear. He estimates his company will have to spend more than 5 million hryvnia to repair buildings and agricultural machinery.

The Russian-Ukraine war has not only destroyed the barns and wheat fields of farmers. About 22 million tons of grain crops are still stuck in Ukraine’s main ports because they cannot be exported.

These conditions were also conveyed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Marinsky Palace in Kyiv on 29 June 2022.

The war has stolen many of the people’s livelihoods, including that of Ivanivna and Oleksandrovich. Their lives are now in ruins. Artillery explosions and mines have not only impacted their wheat barns but their mental states as well because now most their land is uncultivable.

This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.