Rakhmon Mirzoyev watches as a combine harvester dumps a steady stream of grain into a waiting truck on his farm some 60 kilometers from the front line in southern Ukraine.
The good weather lately means that the wheat yield this season has actually been better than normal – but for Mirzoyev that’s just another problem.
Since Russia’s February 24 invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has stockpiled millions of tons of grain from this fertile region that was due to be shipped around the world months ago.
Now Mirzoyev, 60, is struggling to figure out what to do with his new crop as silos in the area are already running out and local prices have plummeted.
“There’s no place to put it and no one to sell it to,” says Mirzoyev, who started his small farm after moving to Ukraine from Tajikistan in central Asia 30 years ago.
That means he’s eagerly awaiting an agreement between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to chart a UN-backed plan to lift the blockade on Moscow.
Ankara said an agreement between the sides will be signed on Friday in a first major deal between the warring parties since Moscow invaded in February.
“We have no other choice – we have to hope that something works,” Mirzoyev said.
But he is deeply skeptical that Russian President Vladimir Putin will keep any promises to resume exports as he seeks to keep the pressure on Kyiv after nearly five months of its brutal war.
“To be honest, I personally don’t really think that’s going to work. But then what? We just have to throw away all the grain?”
– fire hazard –
Russia’s naval blockade of the Black Sea has triggered a global food crisis that has pushed up prices and sparked famine.
Up to 25 million tons of wheat and other grains have been trapped in Ukrainian ports by Russian warships and landmines laid by Kyiv to stave off a feared amphibious attack.
Like other farmers in the region, Mirzoyev waited as long as possible to collect his wheat in the last harvest, hoping the situation might change.
But the scorching sun in recent weeks and almost no rain have increased the risk of another hazard in the area still threatened by Russia’s long-range missiles — fires.
Mirzoyev points to a smoky haze hanging on the horizon over a nearby farm.
“A rocket hit over there and the fields burned for three days straight,” he says.
– ‘Can’t trust Russia –
Ukraine and its European allies have been pushing to increase supplies from the region by train, road and ship up the Danube.
But truck driver Volodymyr Muzechuk tells AFP that these routes are by no means sufficient to transport all the grain, and a sharp rise in fuel prices makes them prohibitively expensive.
“But war or not, we still have to collect the wheat,” he says.
Like his employer, he finds it hard to believe the Kremlin will ever withdraw the grain — even if a deal is struck.
“You can’t trust what Russia says. The only way to deal with them is by force,” he stresses.
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