16 April, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Almost all districts of the Vitebsk region have started selective sowing, the head of the department of agriculture, crop production and fodder production of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Agriculture and Food Committee, Aleksei Turkov, informed a BELTA correspondent. As of April 16, all districts of the region, except for Vitebsk, Dubrovno and Liozno districts, have started selective sowing of spring crops. The most active field work, thanks to good weather conditions, is being carried out in Braslav, Verkhnedvinsk, Glubokoe, Postavy, Chashniki and Sharkovshchina districts. A total of over 4 thousand hectares have been sown in the region, or about 2% of the planned area. The region's farms plan to start mass sowing of grain crops next week, Aleksei Turkov noted, adding that currently, farmers are constantly monitoring the soil condition, and their main efforts are focused on fertilizing winter grain crops, rapeseed and grasslands. Sowing campaign in the Vitebsk region this year is to be carried out within a tight timeframe: grain crops and rapeseed are planned to be sown by May 1, Aleksei Turkov added. -0-

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