Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta declined an aid proposal to send critical grain machines to Ukraine. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A desperate plea from the besieged Ukrainian Government to a New Zealand agri-business company for specialist help for the 2023 grain harvest was blocked by Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, the Herald can reveal.
New documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act show how a direct request from the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Mykola Solskyi, for high-speed and mobile grain stackers was declined.
Russia’s illegal invasion last February, which is ongoing - including bloody trench warfare across several fronts that has not been seen since World War II - has caused widespread destruction and death.
By May 16 last year, when Solskyi approached Christchurch-based MHM Automation, which builds huge, high-tech grain stacking machines that help in the storage and handling of bulk grain and wheat, Russia’s aggression had knocked out 15 million tonnes of the country’s grain storage capacity.
Farmers and officials in Ukraine, which has earned the moniker “the breadbasket of Europe” and is one of the world’s top grain producers, feared it would result in grain spoiling and potential famine in the vast traditional markets of Africa and Asia.
The Ukraine Government was calling for help and in a second letter on June 1 made a specific aid request to MHM Automation for 10 grain stackers by May 2023 in advance of this year’s harvest.
They hoped that the transportable 4WD, two-wheel-steer conveyor-belt machines, which are designed to unload wheat at a rate of 500 tonnes per hour, could quickly help save the country’s grain in bunkers.
The long-established NZX-listed Christchurch-headquartered company, which exports the technology around the world but predominantly to Australia, quickly got an urgent proposal for aid funding together and sent it directly to the Foreign Minister Mahuta, as well as its local MP Megan Woods.
Chief executive Richard Rookes proposed designing and building the grain stackers in its Christchurch workshop before shipping them to a transition facility in the Czech Republic.
From there, the plan was to truck them overland to a “nominated address” in Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.
The detailed submission put the final cost at $11.35 million.
However, the deal never got off the ground.
Mahuta’s response 13 days later, as released under the OIA but delayed due to an “administrative error” in processing the Herald’s request, is sympathetic to Ukraine’s plight and again condemns Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified attack”.
“The war is having a devastating impact, including on Ukraine’s economy and ability to trade,” Mahuta responded.
“The destruction of a significant part of Ukraine’s transportation infrastructure, as well as the destruction of grain silos and other disruption to agricultural production, is substantially impeding Ukraine’s ability to produce crops and deliver these to export markets.”
The war’s impact, including the blockage of Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea, is also “seriously jeopardising” food supply to “some of the most vulnerable parts of the world”, Mahuta acknowledges.
But the minister declined the application, saying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) does not currently have a development co-operation programme for Ukraine and “at this stage the Government’s focus is on humanitarian assistance to meet immediate needs, and responding to Ukraine’s requests for military equipment in defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
She closed by saying: “I acknowledge that this news will come as a disappointment. I wish you well in your efforts to assist Ukraine.”
MHM Automation declined to comment when approached by the Herald.
In response to Herald questions, Mahuta reiterated that New Zealand does not have a development co-operation programme with Ukraine and that the Government’s focus at the time of the aid proposal was on humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.
“We work closely with Ukrainian authorities and co-ordinate with the international community to do this,” she said.
“In most cases, the organisations best placed to provide the most effective assistance to Ukraine will be based in Europe with connections on the ground in Ukraine.”
A number of established organisations are providing humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, Mahuta added, saying that cash donations to the groups are one of the best ways to support Ukrainians in need.
“Many New Zealand companies have worked through the local Ukrainian community (eg mahi for Ukraine) to find ways to help those in need in Ukraine. We welcome that initiative and generosity,” the minister said.
New Zealand has strongly condemned Russia’s ongoing war, issued widespread sanctions and given millions in humanitarian and economic aid and military support to Ukraine.
In December, President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an address to the New Zealand Parliament - only the second foreign leader to ever do so.