Ukraine’s Energy Crisis Threatens Farmers: New Report

January 09, 2025

Small- and medium-sized farmers in Ukraine are struggling to mitigate the impact of power cuts, experiencing losses in production volumes, or reverting to outdated technologies leaning on manual labor instead of automated processes in the absence of reliable electricity, according to a new report by Mercy Corps.

The report finds that as a result of deliberate attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian farmers' operational costs have substantially increased, driving up consumer prices for agricultural products and creating huge challenges for the already struggling sector, which is a major driver of the Ukrainian economy. Reliable electricity is crucial to the processing of dairy products like milk and cheese, or drying harvested grain. Farmers report that if these processes are interrupted, the whole batch is wasted. 

Mercy Corps Country Director for Ukraine Vicki Aken says: 

“Amid regular power outages, farmers in Ukraine need to solve unimaginable difficulties daily just to be able to break even, continue with their work and provide for their families They become electricians themselves, study alternative ways of energy supply or production techniques. 

“Energy loss is just one more vicious side effect of the war, leading  to significant losses in harvest without proper irrigation systems, and wasting thousands of dollars' worth of half-ready products because they don’t have electricity.  

“Attacks on energy are attacks not only on livelihoods, but on food security as well. To support the Ukrainian agriculture sector with access to energy is critical to supporting Ukraine’s energy independence, economic security, and food security.” 

The report is based on interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, farmer associations and civil society organizations, as well as small and medium farmers active in apiculture, poultry farming, dairy farming and production, and grain farming from Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa regions.  

The full report is available here. 

About Mercy Corps in Ukraine:   

Since the escalation of the war in Ukraine, Mercy Corps has supported more than 750,000 conflict-affected people in Ukraine and neighboring countries. We have provided cash assistance; grants for micro, small, and medium businesses, as well as small to medium farming enterprises; and household, food, and hygiene kits for winter and in emergency situations.   

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