8 September, Vitebsk /Sergey Kochetov - BELTA/. Farms in the Vitebsk region have harvested flax straw from over 50% of the flax field area, a correspondent of BELTA was informed by the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. As of 8 September, flax straw has been lifted from more than 10.3 thousand hectares, or 58% of the plan, pressed on almost 9.7 thousand hectares (54% of the plan) and removed from an area of about 8.5 thousand hectares, which is about 88% of the area where flax straw has been pressed. A total of almost 21.7 thousand tonnes of flax straw has been prepared with an average grade of 0.97. The largest volumes of this crop preparation are in the farms of Dubrovensky district, which has the largest flax sowing area in the region - almost 2.3 thousand hectares. The flax growers of the district have prepared about 3.1 thousand tonnes of flax straw with an average grade of 1.02. In addition, almost 2.7 thousand tonnes have been prepared in Gluboksky district with an average grade of 0.98, over 2.2 thousand tonnes in Verkhnedvinsky (average grade 1.18) and almost 2.2 thousand tonnes in Orshansky (0.82). Harvesting is planned to be completed by 20 September, with the preparation of about 50 thousand tonnes of flax straw. Winter grain crops have been sown in the region over an area of about 88 thousand hectares, and plowing for winter sowing has been completed on over 237 thousand hectares. Potatoes have been harvested from an area of over 900 hectares, which is 13.6% of the area to be harvested for this crop. About 23.4 thousand tonnes have been dug with an average yield of 257.4 centners per hectare. -0-

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