Video: Western Ukraine Is Suffering from Drought
Extreme heat and a critical shortage of rainfall have negatively affected the condition of grain crops in Ukraine’s western regions.
Due to abnormal weather conditions, farmers are forecasting a significant drop in yields and are preparing to begin the harvest much earlier than planned.
The situation in Rivne Oblast has become emblematic of the region, where farmers have observed catastrophic soil desiccation.
“In all my life, I’ve never seen the local clay crack this badly. It’s just shocking,” said farmer Vitaliy Teslyuk from the Dubno District.
He points to parched barley fields where, due to a critical lack of moisture, only chaff has formed instead of full-sized grains.
For the western regions, which traditionally suffer from excessive moisture, this condition of the crops is a true anomaly.
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Farmers in Volyn, Lviv, and Rivne regions faced challenges for which they were unprepared due to the extreme ripening of rapeseed and grains under arid conditions.
Ihor Zvarych, whose farm operates in Lviv Oblast, emphasizes the unprecedented nature of this year’s drought.
“I have an area that’s usually quite moist. We usually get an average of 100 mm of rain per month,” the farmer notes, adding that since April, rainfall has not exceeded 50–60 mm, and what little there was was extremely uneven.
Despite the generally tense situation, experts caution against drawing definitive conclusions about the entire western region of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Kholod, CEO of Vitagro Partner, emphasizes that in the Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, and Lviv regions, the condition of the crops looks much better thanks to different conditions for moisture accumulation.
Experts are most concerned about late-season crops, which are particularly in need of moisture during their active growth period.
“If it doesn’t rain in the near future, there’s a risk that the corn will simply wither away. Right now, rain is crucial for corn and soybeans. Let’s hope July brings at least 50 mm,” concludes Ihor Zvarych.
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