Ukraine War Day #136: Zaporozhian Harvest

Dear Readers:

In previous posts we saw how Swedish King Karl XII graciously granted the Zaporozhian Sich (an area he no longer controlled, especially after the Battle of Poltava) as a vassal to Poland.

Karl XII and his pet kitty-kat Fluffles

Modern-day Zaporozhia is, as we speak, split down the middle, horizontally. Ukraine still controls the northern chunk (which, admittedly, contains the capital and the lion’s share of the population), whereas Russia controls the southern slice.

There are a lot of problems here. For starters, we just learned this morning that Ukraine has cut off the gas to the southern part. By damaging the pipe which feeds natural gas from the Ukrainian sector to the Russian sector. Evgeny Balitsky, who heads the Russian-controlled sector, declared an emergency and appealed to the Russian Federation: “HELP We got no gas!”

In response to this crisis, Russia will send a bunch of electrical appliances to help the population. For example, if you needed gas to cook your dinner, you will now have to use an electric hotplate. I just noticed, by the way, that odd “face within a face” in Karl’s pet lion. I happened to squint at it in just the right way, and the face popped out at me. I don’t know if the artist put it there on purpose, or just an accidental artifact. Looks like a middle-aged hippy kind of guy wearing sunglasses (the lion’s mouth is the sunglasses, and the fang is the guy’s nose), with curly hair and a grizzled beard! In the broader picture, Karl would be grabbing this hipster by his hair while he stomps on the world’s globe.

Anyhow, moving on to more important matters, we have this piece by reporters Darya Volkova and Alyona Zadorozhnaya. The title is something straight out a Soviet newspaper:

Russia Is Helping Zaporozhie To Win the Battle For The Harvest

Keep in mind that we are talking about the Russian-controlled slice here, the lateral southern slice.

Zaporozhie Oblast in full

The arrow shows capital city Zaporozhie, still under Ukrainian control

The good news: The harvest is ready to gather, and it’s an exceedingly good one this year. The bad news: The harvest is split between the Ukrainian and Russian-controlled portions of the Oblast. But people are rushing to do what they can, and reap what they sowed. Even the Russian army have helped out, by supplying fuel. The Russian occupying forces are centered in the city of Melitopol, now serving as the “temporary capital” of the Oblast, until Zaporozhie city can be liberated. The authorities there are working feverishly on the harvest issue, and expecting a very good result. Vladimir Rogov is a member of the Provisional Military-Civilian Administration soviet: “The main problem for the farmers is a lack of agricultural technology which, in past years, the Ukrainian government took away from southern regions and moved north, to Kiev.” Rogov goes on to explain the rationale: faced with a deficiency of technology, the Kiev regime took to rationing what they had.

Vladimir Rogov

“The very same combine was put to work in three or five oblasts. But now that system [of sharing] has been broken. Plus, there was an interregnum period between the seasons, before we, the new government of the Zaporozhia Oblast, have been able to restore order. During that period there was a lot of maraudering and robberies, as a result of which there is even less technology now then there was before the start of the Special Military Operation.” [yalensis: one should note in this regard that Ukrainian marauders have been known to steal a valuable piece of machinery and then just break it down for scrap metal, selling for pennies to the dollar.]

A man named Andrei Siguta heads the Military-Civilian government of the Melitopol region. Possessing a magnificent head that looks like a block of concrete, this is what Siguta had to say about this important issue:

Andrei Siguta

“The main problems relate to the harvest machines and heavy equipment. In earlier years we used to outsource this process and hire specialized contractors, who would bring their own machinery. But now we can’t do that any more.”

Hence, Harvest 2022 is shaping up to be the greatest challenge faced yet by the new authorities in South Zaporozhie. Rogov again: “We are appealing to the Krasnodar region [of Russia] and to Crimea. We are requesting that they rent to us the machinery that we need to collect the harvest. All the more so in these times, when, in the world market, grain is literally worth its weight in gold.” Fortunately, the problem is already solving itself. [yalensis: This was penned before the news about the gas cut-off, I don’t know whether the gas problem will impact the harvest issue; maybe not, since these machines run on diesel, probably.]

Siguta again: “There is still a lot of the old Soviet technology lying around, some of it can be repaired or partially restored. When it comes to foreign technology, there were a lot of issues with acquiring parts, but we managed to resolve those problems as well. [yalensis: how? do tell!] Also, the one enterprise that we have that produces fuel and lubricants, it’s still functional. And the main thing is that we have done this in a way that is affordable to our farmers. With their hard work and with the direct assistance of Russia, we are solving all these problems.”

Everyone To The Harvest!

The harvest started around June 20 and is continuing. When it started, Russian soldiers were able to bring fuel to the farmers, to feed their tractors, and so on. A government grain company agreed to purchase all the grain. As of current time, around 20% of the harvest has been collected on the Russian-controlled (“liberated”) territories of the Zaporozhian Oblast.

“Haven’t you heard? That wheat is literally worth its weight in gold!”

Rogov again: “Right now the farm work is proceeding at a feverish pace. The fertility [of our harvest] is higher than the Ukrainian rate, by 10-15%. We are pulling something like 5 tons for each hectare.”

The Melitopol authorities have announced that 20% of the barley has been collected; and over 30% of the rapeseed. [yalensis: Dumb question: What the heck is rapeseed?]

Thus putting at ease earlier worries that they would not be able to collect the harvest by the deadline. Happily, everything is going according to plan. But the key thing is for the new authorities to establish good relations with the private farmer class. The farmers are being asked to register in Melitopol as “juridical persons” (юрлица). This will allow them to interact, in the legal arena with grain traders. If a farmer does not wish to sell his grain at the current time, then he may store it inside an elevator.

Siguta again: “I admit that many of these issues we are just resolving off the cuff as they occur, we don’t yet have a proper system. This stems from the fact that we are not yet a subject of the Russian Federation. As soon as that happens, then a proper system will be built, a vertical in the organs of government, and then an understanding of all the inter-relationships.”

Nonetheless, it is obvious even to the casual observer that life is returning to normal within the province. You can see that by the work in the fields, and also from what is going on in the cities, including Melitopol. For example, the work of the Melitopol asphalt-cement plant resumed work this week. Currently city workers are compiling a list of streets that need to be repaired. In Melitopol, the municipal authorities have started to send out coupons for the payment of communal services [yalensis: bills for gas, electricity, water, etc.], and the payments will be accepted either in rubles or [Ukrainian] hryvnas.

Next: the exciting new educational reforms!

[to be continued]