The former Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski told Catholic broadcaster “Radio Maryja” that Ukrainian grain must not stay in Poland, as that will hit prices hard, which Polish farmers already consider to be too low to meet their cost of production.
He also said that more must be done to ensure Ukrainian grain is exported to countries such as Egypt in order to avoid famine in Africa.
The Law and Justice (PiS) parliamentary deputy admitted that the Polish state has limited capacity to help Ukraine since rail and road routes are too limited to match the scale of exports possible by sea.
Ardanowski warned that storing Ukrainian grain in Poland was dangerous for Polish agriculture. Even if the intention is to gradually export the grain, the silos proposed by President Biden would lead to the temptation for the grain to be sold on the domestic Polish market.
This, according to the former agriculture minister, would be catastrophic for grain prices in Poland. He was also concerned that using silos for this purpose could mean Polish farmers would face a shortage of storage space for this year’s harvest.
