France sends 31 tonnes of seeds to Ukraine

The aid from France, the EU’s biggest agriculture producer, aims to soften “the disastrous impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine’s food security” by allowing the potential harvest of 260,000 tonnes of food, the ministry said.

The shipment includes seeds for beets, carrots, cabbage and tomatoes.

France also supplied Ukraine with 600 tonnes of seed potatoes in April and May to counter planting disruptions amid the fighting.

The Russian naval blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has stopped grain shipments from the world’s fourth-largest exporter of wheat and corn, raising the spectre of shortages and hunger in low-income countries.

Cereal prices have soared on global markets, and French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France was assisting in transporting Ukrainian grain by truck via Romania.

The Ukrainian government says 20 to 25 million tonnes are currently blocked and could start to rot if they are not shipped soon.

The UN has warned of a “hurricane of hunger” — mainly in African countries that import more than half of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia, also a major producer.

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