Ukraine warns over impact of Nova Kakhovka dam collapse on farmland

KYIV – The

destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam

will flood tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in southern Ukraine and could turn at least 500,000ha of land left without irrigation into “deserts”, the Agriculture Ministry said.

Ukraine, a major global producer and exporter of grain,

has accused Moscow of committing a war crime by blowing up the Soviet-era dam, which powered a hydro-electric station and was occupied by Russia. The Kremlin blames the collapse on Ukraine.

Kyiv has estimated that about 42,000 people are at risk from flooding that it expects to peak on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said

the dam’s collapse

had left hundreds of thousands of people without normal access to drinking water.

“The destruction of the Kakhovka hydro-electric power station will lead to the fact that fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into deserts next year,” the Agriculture Ministry said.

Ukraine has 33 million ha of farmland, according to the World Bank, so nearly 2 per cent of that area may be under threat.

The ministry said in a statement issued late on Tuesday that the disaster would cut off water supply to 31 irrigation systems in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipro, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The ministry said that in 2021 – before Russia’s full-scale invasion – these systems provided irrigation for 584,000ha from which farmers harvested about four million tonnes of grains and oilseeds.

That represented about 4 per cent of the country’s output – in 2021, Ukraine’s grain and oilseed production was 104 million tonnes.

Vegetables are also grown on some of the land.

The ministry quoted preliminary estimates indicating that around 10,000ha of agricultural land on the right bank of the Kherson region would be flooded.

“Several times more (land will be under water) on the left bank of the region, which is currently under occupation,” the ministry said.

The ministry has not said how much grain could be lost because of flooding.

Ukrainian Farm Minister Mykola Solsky told Reuters last week that the country could harvest 18 million tonnes of winter grains in 2023, and winter wheat dominates the output. REUTERS