Ukraine, the world's top producer of sunflower oil and a major exporter of wheat is a breadbasket of the world under threat from the Russian invasion
Morda Vasyl (L) and Holovanych Andrii work on planting sugar beet seeds in the field on March 26, 2022 in Humnyska, Ukraine. With more than 150,000 square miles of agricultural land, Ukraine has been called the "breadbasket" of Europe, and is a major exporter of wheat, barley, sugar beets and other grains and sunflower oil. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Bahaté, Ukraine: In an endless field in southwest Ukraine, farmers began to plant sunflower seeds at the start of the sowing season, but a fuel shortage threatens production in the war-torn country, whose land feeds millions around the world.
The world's top producer of sunflower oil and a major exporter of wheat is a breadbasket of the world under threat from the Russian invasion.
This means the fate of global food security depends on Ukrainian farms, such as the fertile grounds of Alexander Petkov's land in Bahate, near the Romanian border.
"The season starts here, in the areas not hit by war," Petkov, 47, said. The regions torn by the conflict such as the southern cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv further to the east will not be able to begin planting as usual.