In Ukraine, the Russian army has blown up a dam in the night of June 5-6.

The explosion of the dam of the Kakhovska hydroelectric power station is not only an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe that will lead to flooding of vast territories and many towns, but it will also affect food security.

The water from this irrigation system made it possible to grow up to 80% of all vegetables in Ukraine and a significant percentage of fruits and grapes. Almost all warmer climate fruits of Ukraine such as peaches, apricots, cherries, grapes, etc. were grown based on irrigation from the Kakhovka reservoir. Most of the summer greenhouses, providing the population of Ukraine and Moldova with affordable tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and peppers, were also located along the branches of the Kakhovka irrigation system.

Today, without irrigation, it is impossible to grow almost any agricultural product in this region, especially fruits and vegetables. The fact is that the region only gets around 400 mm of precipitation per annum and most of them in the winter period, i.e. outside the growing season.

It will take at least 5-10 years to restore the dam and the irrigation system, and this will be possible only when the territory is no longer contested. At the same time, 5 years is an optimistic scenario, which will be extremely difficult to implement in practice.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com