Belarus has harvested 7 million 664 thousand tons of grain, which is 633 thousand tons more than last year, reported Andrey Zanevsky, Head of the Main Department of Crop Production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, to a BELTA correspondent.
Belarus has harvested 7 million 664 thousand tons of grain, which is 633 thousand tons more than last year, reported Andrey Zanevsky, Head of the Main Department of Crop Production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, to a BELTA correspondent.
The mass harvesting of grain and leguminous crops across Belarus (with the exception of the Vitebsk region) was practically completed by September 1, with only small areas of late-harvested crops – buckwheat and millet – remaining. By this time, only 1.9 thousand hectares of buckwheat in some regions and about 1-1.5 thousand hectares of grain crops in the Vitebsk region were left to be harvested.
The yield of grain and leguminous crops was 35.6 centners per hectare. This is 2.2 centners higher than in 2016.
Andrey Zanevsky noted that in August, precipitation in the Vitebsk region exceeded the norm by 42%, and in the third decade of August, it was almost 3.3 times the norm. Rainy weather persisted in the first and second decades of September, which led to severe soil over-moistening and affected the pace of grain harvesting in the Vitebsk region.
Currently, the country continues to harvest potatoes, corn for silage, and sugar beet. 71% of potato fields have already been harvested. Its yield this year is quite high – 315.1 centners per hectare, which is 55 centners higher than last year's level, explained Andrey Zanevsky.
Potato harvesting is planned to be completed by October 10-12, corn for silage by October 15, and sugar beet by November 1.