Transit of Ukrainian grain through Poland resumed. Experts and farmers about problems

On the night from Thursday to Friday, a regulation appeared on the government website that gives the green light to the transit of goods from Poland through Poland Ukraine . – In addition to the seals that monitor the course of the terraces, trucks are escorted by employees of the customs and tax service, one at the beginning, the other at the end – explains the spokesman of the Tax Administration Chamber in Lublin, Michał Deruś.

And so the transport is to be controlled all the way to the western border of Poland.

The first five trucks with grain, corn and eggs from Ukraine went to the Netherlands. – We make every effort to ensure that the transit leaves our territory as soon as possible – says the spokeswoman for the head of the National Revenue Administration, senior rachm. Justyna Pasieczynska.

On Friday, the prime ministers presented a support program for farmers who, due to the uncontrolled influx of grain from the east, were on the verge of bankruptcy.

– Yesterday I received a phone call that ended in tears. A farmer who has overdue grain, a loan to pay, he says that he does not know whether to sell the land or go to work – says another farmer from Sulęcin, Filip Pawlik.

Mateusz Morawiecki promised fuel subsidies. – We are raising the amount of refund of excise duty for diesel oil from PLN 1.20 to PLN 1.46 and we immediately apply to the European Commission for permission to allocate another 54 groszy of subsidy per liter of diesel oil – said the Prime Minister.

In addition – as promised by the government – farmers who have sold grain, but also those who are planning to do so, will be able to count on support. Subsidies for fertilizers will also start. The total aid will cost about PLN 10 billion.

– When you dig a well, when it is already burning, it is a bit late – says Wiktor Szmulewicz, president of the National Council of Agricultural Chambers. “We’re going to have a huge problem starting in July,” he added.

In turn, Magdalena Zawiślak from Agrouni indicates that the financial support will come from taxes. – Ours and other people working in Poland. They robbed us first and will continue to steal from us to pretend that they are giving us.

Although now, 10 months after the abolition of customs duties and food quotas from Ukraine, the government assures that there will not be a single Ukrainian grain left in Poland, the question remains what about the four million tons that are already in Poland.

– Today you can send convoys, send dogs, maybe Telus himself with Morawiecki go on a wagon to guard, but this does not solve the problem – says Tomasz Trela ​​from Nowa Lewica.

– They don’t know how much grain has arrived, where it has gone, they don’t know how to secure it, they don’t know how to take it away. A complete amateur and indolence – evaluates Marcin Kierwiński from the Civic Coalition.

Poland does not have the logistical capacity for the planned operation. PIS talks about the use of rail and sea transport, but currently the Polish railway transports only 3 percent of our food, and the ports are inefficient.

“For all of this to make sense, we had to prepare in advance. About two years ago, it was announced that a new agri-food terminal would be built in Gdańsk, where there is no appropriate infrastructure, points out Adrian Furgalski from the TOR economic advisory team. – Where is the terminal? It’s still in the plans,” he explains.

– We hope that one and a half tons will go away, but the rest will remain for the harvest, and this carelessness of the rulers in allowing this situation to happen will cost us after the next harvest – says Wiesław Gryn, vice-president of the Zamość Agricultural Society.

The government’s cash injection is not the only help that farmers can count on. European Union wants to help them with almost 30 million euros. – If I waited for the European Union to help us, first of all I would never see it, and secondly, what the European Union offers us is too late, too little, a drop in the ocean of needs – claims Mateusz Morawiecki.

But no one told the Prime Minister to wait, because all the safeguards during the transit of grain could be introduced in July last year. – We suddenly have a lot of government conferences in which they announce, as if they discovered America, how this grain will travel – points out Adrian Furgalski. – We have had a road and rail transport monitoring system since 2017 – he emphasizes.