Stolen Ukrainian grain is Africa’s food security concern too

The war in Ukraine might seem far from Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Yet one of its consequences reaches into a subject that matters deeply across Africa: food security. Ukraine is often described as one of the world’s breadbaskets and for good reason. Its wheat, maize, sunflower oil and other agricultural products have helped feed millions of people across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Even after Russia’s full-scale invasion, with fields mined, ports attacked and farmers working under extraordinary pressure, Ukraine has continued to export food. It has also supported vulnerable countries through the humanitarian Grain from Ukraine programme. That is why the removal of Ukrainian grain from territories occupied by Russia should not be seen as a distant European dispute. It is part of a much bigger question: whether the global food system can remain fair, lawful and trustworthy when grain taken from occupied land is moved through ports, mixed with other cargo, relabelled and sold abroad. Behind every shipment of grain there is a farmer, a field, a contract, a port, an insurer and a buyer. When that chain begins with occupation and theft, the damage does not stop at Ukraine’s borders. It affects confidence in maritime trade and creates risks for every country that depends on transparent food supply routes. Ukrainian authorities say Russia removed more than two million tonnes of grain from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine during 2025. From January to April alone, Ukrainian data indicates that 25 vessels made about 50 voyages from closed ports in occupied Ukrainian territories and transported more than 850 000 tonnes of grain. The ships, their owners and the commercial networks involved have reportedly been identified. The methods used to hide the origin of such grain are not new. Cargoes can be moved through closed ports, transferred at sea, mixed with other grain or accompanied by documents that disguise where the grain was grown. By the