Russia

Russia's grain shortage amounts to 10 million tons
Associated Press, Jan. 21, 2000

MOSCOW- Russia faces a grain shortage of 10 million metric tons this year, including 1.5 million metric tons of food grain and 8.5 million metric tons of fodder, the country's top agricultural official said Friday. Russia's grain reserves are still recovering from the poor 1998 harvest, the worst in four decades, and Moscow has asked the United States and the European Union for food and grain aid. But Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shcherbak stressed that Russia's government had no plans to borrow money to finance foreign grain and food aid. He claimed that apart from the U.S. Agricultural Department, the rest of the U.S. administration opposes food aid. "The State Department opposes the idea and so do other ministries. The issue still remains open," Shcherbak said. The United States did approve sending 200,000 tons of food and 300,000 tons of grain for free, which could arrive in March provided the documents are signed this month, he said.

Russia's Potato Blight Worse Than Irish Famine's
Unisci.com, March 24, 2000

New virulent types of the potato late blight pathogen have emerged in Russia, threatening farmers and consumers with the destruction of an essential staple crop there, according to the Cornell-Eastern Europe-Mexico (CEEM) Potato Late Blight Program. The new strains of Phytopthora infestans, better known as potato late blight, are far more aggressive than the pathogen that triggered the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, having evolved through sexual mating. Unlike the old strains, the new pathogen can survive harsh winters in the soil, further endangering crops. "Potatoes are a sustaining food crop, the second bread for many parts of Russia. A severe late blight problem could harm millions of people and possibly destabilize the region," says W. Ronnie Coffman, the chairman of CEEM and the associate dean for research at Cornell University's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "But that would depend on whether alternate food supplies could be moved into the affected areas in a timely manner."

Russian Grain Shortage Could Reach 10 Million Tons
Interfax Food and Agriculture Report, June 7, 2000

Russia will face a grain shortage of 6 million to 10 million tonnes in the new farm year (July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001), the president of the Grain Union said. The state of the grain market shows that Russia "will not manage without imports" so the country "should not wait for a crisis, but immediately take steps to stimulate grain imports throughout the year," Alexander Yukish said at a Tuesday round-table discussion on grain supplies at the Chamber of Trade and Industry.

Locust Swarms Settle on Crops in Southern Siberia
Associated Press, July 4, 2000

Swarms of locusts have settled on more than 12,000 hectares (29,000 acres) of farmland in southern Siberia and are devouring grain crops, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday. About 100 hectares (250 acres) were fully destroyed, the report said, and authorities have begun dusting crops with pesticide from the air.

Locust Swarms Devour Siberian Crops
Discovery News, July 6, 1999

Swarms of locusts migrating from Kazakhstan have devoured hundreds of acres of crops in central Siberia during a span of only a few days, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. The insects were first observed near the city of Novosibirsk, about 1,750 miles (2,800 km) east of Moscow. They have since descended on sunflower and grain crops, which are the region's key agricultural output. News footage shown on NTV television showed vast expanses of fields left barren by the ravenous insects. Officials estimate that nearly 1,250 acres of farmland have been devoured. The devastation comes during a year when grain supplies have dwindled across Russia. The nation's harvest is expected to be only slightly higher than last years' record low levels.

Flood Damage in Central, Eastern Russia Estimated at Millions of Dollars
Associated Press, August 3, 2000

Floods from heavy rains damaged hundreds of homes and ruined crops in central and eastern Russia, causing millions of rubles (dollars) in losses, officials said Thursday. In the central Russian region of Ryazan, heavy rains Wednesday damaged more than 780 apartment buildings and administrative buildings, and flooded large tracts of farmland, the regional Emergency Situations Center said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Losses caused by the flooding in Ryazan were estimated at 490 million rubles (dlrs 18 million), ITAR-Tass said. Flooding washed out farmland and inundated hundreds of homes in the Far Eastern region of Primorye earlier this week. The damage was estimated at 37 million rubles (dlrs 1.3 million), ITAR-Tass said.