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# 									Improving Food Security in Ukraine Through Demining							

DipNote

Reyna Yang 

February 28, 2024

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has had a devastating impact on food security in Ukraine and across the globe. Over one third of Ukraine is suspected to be contaminated with landmines and other explosive hazards, and nearly 6.5 million acres of the country’s farmland has been adversely impacted by the Russia’s aggression, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy.

Widespread mine contamination threatens the livelihoods of millions of civilians and undercuts the economy by reducing Ukraine’s agricultural production. As the largest donor of humanitarian demining assistance to Ukraine, the United States is committed to helping Ukraine enable safe access to arable land and returning that land to communities for long-term productive use.

Russian forces have left landmines and other explosive hazards in Ukraine’s prime agricultural land, and their continued presence is a risk to human life, hindrance to investment, and major obstacle to food security.

### The Cost of Russia’s War

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, many families and small-scale farmers in the front-line regions are unable to plant crops due to landmine contamination. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in their 2023 Ukraine impact assessment, Ukraine’s front-line communities have experienced the greatest proportion of contaminated land.

According to the U.S. International Trade Administration, Ukraine is one of the most fertile places in the world, containing 25-30 percent of the world’s black soil reserves with more than 100 million acres of agricultural land. Around 400 million people worldwide rely on Ukraine for their food supply, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global supply chains and exports and increased production costs, creating unprecedented challenges around the world.

The United States is the largest humanitarian demining donor to Ukraine and remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s efforts to address the impacts of explosive hazards. The Department of State is leading the U.S. government’s response, having committed $182 million to the effort since February 2022. This assistance is designed to bolster the Government of Ukraine’s capacity to clear landmines and unexploded ordnances.

The United States also increased the number of U.S.-funded NGO and contractor demining teams deployed in Ukraine to augment Ukrainian government efforts and accelerate demining in areas identified as high priorities by the Government of Ukraine. Currently, the majority of survey and clearance tasks addressed by State Department implementing partners are agricultural.

The United States supports survey and clearance operations through the implementing partners Tetra Tech, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), The HALO Trust (HALO), Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD), and Mines Advisory Group (MAG). The United States also funds FSD to survey and clear small farms under a joint WFP-FAO project. These farms are prioritized based on criteria developed by agricultural experts, including socio-economic factors, soil productivity, and risk of chemical contamination to the watershed.

In March 2023, U.S.-funded NGO HALO, began working across the Kharkiv region to clear landmines and other explosive hazards from villages and farmlands. Alexandar Mikolaeovich, the director of an agricultural company, has farmed in the Kharkiv region for over 40 years. He has an annual harvest of over 10 tons of wheat, barley, and sunflower, which is then exported to the ports of Odessa and Mykolaiv.

The land that Alexander rents is the economic lifeline of 400 local people living in the nearby village. However, from March to September 2023, Russian forces occupied the land, destroying grain stores that housed years’ worth of wheat, damaging the multi-million-dollar farm equipment, and leaving behind a lethal tide of landmines, booby traps, and other explosive hazards.

U.S. partners assist local communities, villages, and farmers like Alexander by investing in machines and new technologies that clears vast tracts of land safely and efficiently, transforming minefields back to farmers’ fields. Once agricultural land is surveyed, cleared, and safe for use, farmers are able to return to sowing the fields, harvesting crops, and exporting goods.

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), also supports Ukraine’s agricultural sector through the Agriculture Resilience Initiative Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) program, which works to alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine by donating seeds to households and farmers, providing additional field equipment, and increasing grain shipping capacity.

Bolstering Ukraine’s economy and fostering sustainable recovery, the program targets urgent export challenges and supports Ukraine’s wider agricultural sector. Ultimately, demining is the first step to recovery – affecting Ukraine’s economy, energy security, global food security, as well as the safety of millions of Ukrainians.

### U.S. Commitment

The United States is committed to supporting humanitarian needs and post-conflict recovery of communities affected by mines and other explosive remnants of war in Ukraine through its global conventional weapons destruction efforts. Since 1993, the United States has invested more than $4.6 billion in over 120 countries – and areas to promote international peace and security by addressing the threat of conventional weapons.

For more information on how the State Department is strengthening human security, facilitating economic development, and fostering stability through demining, risk education, and other conventional weapons destruction activities, check out our annual report, To Walk the Earth in Safety, and follow us on Twitter @StateDeptPM.

*Reyna Yang was a Frasure-Kruzel-Drew Memorial Fellow in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement at the U.S. Department of State.*

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AgricultureBureau of Global Public AffairsBureau of Political-Military AffairsClimate and EnvironmentDipNoteEconomic Prosperity and Trade PolicyFood SecurityRefugee and Humanitarian AssistanceRussiaUkraine

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