Sowing of rapeseed in Ukraine is accelerating, but the lack of precipitation may lead to a reduction in areas

Over the weekend, rain fell in most of Ukraine, favorable for the production of rapeseed seedlings. But in general, the reserves of soil moisture are quite low, so the plans of Ukrainian farmers to increase the area of rapeseed sowing to a record 1.9 million hectares may not be realized.

Domestic farmers are actively sowing winter rapeseed and cereals. At the beginning of September, 699.7 thousand hectares were sown with winter crops, in particular, 654.9 thousand hectares with rapeseed, 42.5 thousand hectares with wheat, 1.2 thousand hectares with barley, and 1.1 thousand hectares with rye.

Favorable weather made it possible to complete the sowing of rapeseed in the Ternopil, Volyn, Poltava and Sumy regions. The most winter rapeseed was sown in Ternopil region - 72.5 thousand hectares, in Vinnytsia region - 67.2 thousand hectares and Kirovohrad region - 59.4 thousand hectares.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the majority of farmers do not plan to significantly change the area under winter crops for the 2024 harvest compared to last year.

During the third decade of August, there was no effective precipitation in Ukraine, so soil moisture reserves were not replenished. Areas intended for sowing winter crops in the southern regions were poorly moistened, and in some areas of the northern, central and eastern regions - completely dry.

According to the estimates of the Ukrhydrometeorological center, as of the end of August, almost 50-60% of areas in Ukraine were affected by soil drought, which exceeds last year's figure.

The optimal sowing dates for winter rapeseed end in the first decade of September, so farmers were forced to sow rapeseed in unfavorable conditions, since only in some areas of the western and northern regions the moisture content of the arable layer of the soil was satisfactory.

As a result of the soil drought in Ukraine, there are unfavorable conditions for sowing winter crops at the optimal time, especially since, according to forecasts, no precipitation is expected until mid-September. Therefore, it will be advisable to carry out sowing later, after replenishing the reserves of moisture in the soil.

At the same time, agrometeorological conditions in August were satisfactory for the ripening of late crops.