Sowing of spring crops has already started in 20 regions of Ukraine

One of the goals of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is to destroy the country's infrastructure and economic potential. Mass cases of destruction of agricultural enterprises, elevators, and theft of agricultural machinery were recorded in the regions of Kyiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv oblasts liberated from the occupiers. Massive attacks are being carried out on oil depots throughout Ukraine, including the western regions, to disrupt the sowing campaign and increase global dependence on Russian grain, which is now actively sold at $ 400 / t, although before the war the price was about $ 310 / t.

However, Ukrainian farmers are determined and are actively resuming production activities to provide the country with products next year. As of April 1, sowing of spring crops has started in 21 regions of Ukraine, while last year on this date work was carried out in 15 regions, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine reports.

In particular, on this date spring crops were sown:

• wheat - 81 thousand hectares,
• barley - 327.3 thousand hectares,
• rapeseed - 7.6 thousand hectares,
• oats - 50.1 thousand hectares,
• peas - 62.3 thousand hectares,
• sunflower - 33.7 thousand hectares,
• soybeans - 10.4 thousand hectares,
• sugar beets - 30.6 thousand hectares.

According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, more than 13.438 million hectares will be sown with the main spring crops in the territory controlled by Ukraine for the 2022 harvest, which will be 3.78 million hectares less than last year.

In addition, according to the agency, 7.7 million hectares were sown with winter crops for the 2022 harvest, including 6.5 million hectares of wheat and triticale, 159,000 hectares of rye, and 1 million hectares of barley. And now agricultural enterprises are actively fertilizing winter crops with nitrogen fertilizers.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy believes that the area under spring crops in Ukraine will be reduced by about 20% compared to last year. However, the information about the beginning of sowing work by farmers in the occupied areas of Kherson region gives hope that the sown area of spring crops will be 90% of the planned volume.