KYIV, May 11 – Ukraine is increasing the capacity for agricultural exports across its western border and improving rail and road logistics, as well as seeking ways to unblock our maritime trade along with its international partners, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

It should be understood that in our current conditions, sowing a crop is half the work. It also needs to be harvested and exported ... Ukraine is one of the guarantors of world food security, and the fact that Russia blocks the export of Ukrainian products [through seaports] may lead to a global food crisis," Shmyhal said at a government meeting.

The 2022 sowing campaign in the face of Russia's military invasion was expected to be one of the biggest challenges for the state on the economic front, he said.

Thanks to the well-coordinated work of farmers and the state, we are quite successfully going through this most difficult sowing campaign in the history of Ukraine. As of May 9, some 8.6 million hectares have already been sown with various crops, which is only 24% less than last year's figures. Summing up the intermediate results, we can to say that we coped with this task all together," Shmyhal said.

Ukraine had already formed strategic food reserves, which would be enough for its population for years, he said. At the same time, more and more world leaders are realizing that without Ukrainian products, certain parts of the world can expect a real famine. (om/ez)