At the request of Belgian farmer’s union Boerenbond, the Federal Minister of Agriculture David Clarinval (MR) has created a task force to closely monitor the impact of the war in Ukraine on the agro-food chain.
“The war in Ukraine has an impact far beyond the country's borders: not only energy prices, but also grain prices are rising. This has a negative impact on cattle feed,” explained Vanessa Saenen, spokesperson for Boerenbond.
The war can also put Belgian farmers in a tight spot when it comes to employment, reports the Flemish infocentre for agriculture and horticulture (VILT).
According to Saenen, 1,750 of Belgium’s 67,000 seasonal workers come from Ukraine.
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The aim of the task force is to be able to react quickly to any impact within the agri-food chain,” Saenen said. “We don't want to run out of energy in our country, but we don't want to run out of food either.”
Op vraag van onze voorzitter @sonjadebecker besloot minister van Landbouw @DavidClarinval om een speciale taskforce in het leven te roepen om de impact van de oorlog in Oekraïne op onze agrovoedingsketen van zeer nabij op te volgen. 🌾👀 pic.twitter.com/dLZf6rInq2
— Boerenbond (@Boerenbond) March 8, 2022
Translation: At the request of our President @sonjadebecker, Minister of Agriculture @DavidClarinval decided to create a special task force to closely monitor the impact of the war in Ukraine on our agri-food chain.
Boerenbond is already pleased that Minister Clarinval has responded to the organisation's request: “Both the agriculture and horticulture sector and the chain partners are already noticing the consequences of the conflict.”
Minister Clarinval's office was told that the task force still needs to be fleshed out.
