Flooding along the Russian-controlled bank of the Dnipro is worse than on the Ukrainian-held side
(Photo: Reuters)
Metropolis Desk-
The immediate humanitarian repercussions, including flooded homes and displaced residents, are devastating enough. However, according to BBC, Ukrainian officials are now expressing concern about potential long-term effects on agriculture in one of the most fruitful regions of the nation.
One of Ukraine’s most prolific and fertile regions is Kherson.
The agriculture ministry of Ukraine warned on Wednesday that areas in the south could “turn into deserts as early as next year” if critical irrigation systems, which depend on the enormous Kakhovka reservoir, stop working.
The reservoir is rapidly vanishing, sending an estimated 4.4 cubic miles of water surging down the Dnipro River towards the Black Sea.
584,000 hectares (more than 2,200 square miles) of farmland were watered by 31 irrigation systems before the conflict, according to the ministry.
“To transport this water, we required the dam and the pumping station it contained. That is now gone. Water pipes should be created entirely from scratch if farmers are intending to use them.
Besides its famed watermelons, the fertile countryside on either side of the Dnipro River produces a wide variety of other crops, such as onions, tomatoes, sunflowers, soybeans, and wheat. Also possibly impacted are dairy farms.
Source – BBC
