Ukraine’s demining operations are struggling to revive war-torn farms

After nine months of Russian occupation, more than half of Inna Boiko’s 50,000-hectare farm in southern Ukraine was littered with shell craters, burned-out equipment and dangerous landmines. When she and hundreds of other farmers returned to their villages in the Mykolayiv region in November 2022, she was determined to clear and replant the fields.

But in the early days of the war, Boiko was left to her own devices as to how to make that happen, using makeshift drones and other do-it-yourself contraptions to eliminate hazards in what was the country with the most mines in the world. world has become. Since then, the Ukrainian government has boosted its commitment to international aid, bringing in a flood of special machines from Japan and funds from philanthropist Howard Buffett, with astonishing results.

“We are now knocking on every door and talking about money, equipment – ​​every possible way to support us,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told reporters in October.

While Ukraine remains a major global supplier of crops, the decline in production since the start of the war has reduced supplies of corn, wheat and sunflower oil. Russia has also recently stepped up attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea and a drought this year hobbled the region’s farmers, increasing supply risks just as world food prices are rising.

Safe access to agricultural land is essential for a country known as the breadbasket of Europe, and demining Ukraine could take decades. At the beginning of Russia’s invasion, more than 174,000 square kilometers of its territory was littered with explosive mines, an area larger than Greece, largely by Russian forces, but also by Ukraine.