[ti:China Looks to Ukraine for Food] [ar:Karen Leggett] [al:Agriculture Report] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [00:04.84]America is the world's largest food exporter. [00:09.54]But the worst drought in half a century [00:12.46]is hitting corn and wheat harvests. [00:15.17]The drought across the central United States [00:18.56]adds to concerns about world food supplies [00:22.18]and prices in the coming years. [00:24.83]Experts say by twenty-fifty, [00:29.05]the world will have to produce at least [00:31.51]sixty percent more food [00:33.08]to feed a population growing bigger and richer. [00:37.43]China, a major food importer, is looking to producers [00:42.39]around the world to guarantee future food supplies. [00:46.23]China has invested in food production [00:49.68]in Australia and New Zealand. [00:52.29]A new source of supply is Ukraine. [00:55.58]Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Europe [00:59.28]because of rich corn and wheat harvests a century ago. [01:03.81](SOUND) [01:06.07]Galyna Kovtok is chief executive of Ukraine's [01:09.41]largest agricultural business, ULF. [01:13.40]She predicts that within a few months [01:16.41]her company will be approved to export corn to China. [01:21.25]That will make Ukraine the first country [01:25.50]outside the Americas to do so. [01:28.36]ULF will soon have almost [01:32.06]two million tons of elevator storage capacity [01:36.21]as it prepares for the Chinese market. [01:40.01]Chinese money is financing the building of six grain elevators. [01:46.36]But the company's equipment is largely American, [01:50.50]including half-million-dollar John Deere combines to harvest wheat. [01:57.30]ULF's grain production per hectare [02:01.40]is now halfway between Ukrainian averages [02:04.90]and the high yields of the American Midwest. [02:09.32]But farming depends on the weather. [02:12.46]Across the Black Sea region [02:15.41]-- in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan [02:19.05]-- drought this year is pushing harvests down [02:22.40]by fifteen to twenty percent. [02:25.04]Traditionally, the Black Sea region is the main source of wheat [02:30.65]for North Africa and the Middle East. [02:34.05]But this year, on the supply side, [02:37.10]Russia may have to suspend exports. [02:40.35]And, on the demand side, Africa and the Middle East [02:45.30]are now competing with China. [02:47.55]At the same time, a new report says large parts of Asia [02:53.85]may face long periods of severe drought within ten years. [02:59.84]The report is from the British-based Center for Low Carbon Futures, [03:05.84]a network of universities. [03:08.59]It says northern China, India, Afghanistan, [03:13.34]Mongolia and Pakistan will be especially hard hit. [03:18.43]It says other parts of Asia are likely to face longer [03:23.73]and wetter monsoon seasons because of climate change. [03:28.56]Andrew McConville works for the agricultural [03:33.06]technology company Syngenta. [03:35.77]He says a lack of new investment in technology [03:39.27]to help farmers improve productivity has had an effect. [03:44.27]ANDREW McCONVILLE: "You really start to see, if you like, [03:46.62]all of those things come together, [03:48.23]laid over the top of very high prices as well, [03:51.69]so you almost had a perfect storm of factors coming together." [03:54.28]And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [03:58.39]I'm Karen Leggett.