Mice Be Blamed: Where Is State Reserve's Grain?
What has happened?
A joke about mice eating a collective farm's grain intended for the needs of the motherland has once again become a reality.
- Where's the grain?
The head of the collective farm answers sitting in a new Lexus:
- There is none. Mice have eaten it!
It was the mice that were accused of the disappearance of large quantities of grain from the warehouses of the State Reserve Agency of Ukraine. This was stated by Mykhailo Apostol, the Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on his Facebook page. In his words, the mice ate almost 2,700 railcars of grain. The loss totalled over UAH 800 mln.
"This shortfall, according to Ex-head of the Agency Yaroslav Pohorilyi, was discovered during the audit. Voracious mice also got into the State Reserve's facility in Chortkiv city of Ternopil region. There they consumed grain which would fit into more than 150 railcars," claims Mykhailo Apostol.
What is wrong with the quality?
Ex-head of the State Reserve Agency of Ukraine Yaroslav Pohorilyi stated in the interview with ZN,UA that it is 3% full of the amount required. In general, losses of more than a billion hryvnias have been discovered. Besides, he said, the auditors have a lot of questions about the quality of products stored in the State Reserve. For example, according to the documents, the company stores quality grain of the second or third class, which appears to be of the sixth class after the control inspection.
"Approximately 20 thou. t of grain have been confirmed to be of poor quality, and this process has not yet been completed. In my opinion, there will be about 30 thou. t of grain, the quality of which will not meet the declared one," said Yaroslav Pohorilyi.
How often does grain disappear from the State Reserve?
The last time such incident occurred was in 2015. Then about 250 thou. t of grain disappeared covertly from the State Reserve, Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius(Dec. 2, 2014 – Apr. 14, 2016) reported. It is yet not known whether there were mice or other rodents in the Agency warehouses. But the inventory showed that there was grain documented, but not in fact.
Are mice that dangerous?
Rodents destroy stocks of grain in warehouses and contaminate them with waste products hazardous to humans and animals. In the article "Fun Facts About Cats Protecting Grain", our colleagues from Elevatorist.com state that one mouse can eat about 3 grams of grain per day. Under favourable conditions, mice breed all year round and have up to ten litters annually. For example, meadow mice produce broods every 20-22 days. There may be 6-8 mice in each brood. That is, during a year, the litter of one pair of mice can count in tens of millions of animals.
Mice never hibernate and are active 24/7. Their front teeth are constantly growing and need to be grinded. That is why in warehouses they gnaw at electrical wires, wood, plastic, drywall and even assembly foam. As a result, they spoil machinery, equipment, packaging, inventory and may even cause fires (in the case of damage to electrical wires and cables). In addition, rodents transmit diseases such as tularaemia, botulism, rabies, salmonellosis and others.
How does one gets rid of mice?
It is possible to prevent a mass outbreak of rodents in grain warehouses if regular deratization is conducted and enterprises are kept clean. By the way, realizing the magnitude of the problem for agrarians, UKRAVIT company in 1999 began with monitoring and analysis of the Ukrainian market of means for the destruction of domestic insects and rodents.
Another lifehack is to "recruit" cats. One cat hunting mice can save up to 10 t of grain every year. For example, in Austria, a cat that guarded warehouses for several years was granted a life pension in the form of meat, milk and broth.
Should mice be blamed?
Do mice really feel at home in grain storages of the State Reserve? The head of the Fumigation Association of Ukraine Tamara Pobereznyak knows the answer. Commenting on the Facebook post by the acting executive director of the Ukrainian Grain Association Serhiy Ivashchenko, she wrote that the mice "ate hundreds of thousands of tons of grain" during her work period.
"Repeatedly I was involved with the prosecutor's office as an expert, and I dispelled myths about voracious rodents. Many of them were put in prison, I know such three directors and one chief accountant of the State Reserve. Together with the Agricultural Inspection, we set up a system of warehouse decontamination. The enterprises of the Hlib Ukrainy Group of companies were pest-free," she said.
Tamara Pobereznyak also added that the money meant for fumigation was laundered in the State Reserve. It was known, there was evidence, but the state authorities ignored that.
"Now the situation, to put it mildly, is not perfect. We need to start cleaning up the mess again. But that's only possible with the state controllers. Now I do not see such enthusiasm from the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection," says the head of the Fumigation Association.
Natalia Rodak, Latifundist.com