September 3, Vitebsk /Alena Tikhonova - BELTA/. Farms in the Vitebsk region have started the mass harvesting of corn, the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent.
According to operational data, 8.5% of the areas have been harvested, and 253 thousand tons of green mass have been procured with an average yield of 287 centners per hectare. The Regional Committee for Agriculture and Food emphasized that the corn yield will increase. "We are currently harvesting the less productive plots. Farms are sending machinery to fields damaged by wild boars first. The best plots will be harvested later. According to forecasts, the average yield of green mass this year will be no lower than 300 centners per hectare. In some regions, it is realistic to obtain 500 centners per hectare. Due to the optimistic harvest forecast, it is planned to use part of the corn for grain," the Regional Committee for Agriculture and Food stressed, adding that with corn included, 16.73 centners of fodder units per conventional head of cattle have been procured in the region, which is 0.57 centners more than on this date last year.
Work is also actively underway in the potato fields, with 10.4% of the areas harvested. 12.7 thousand tons of tubers have been collected, with an average yield of 288 centners per hectare. The forecasts for the potato harvest in the Regional Committee for Agriculture and Food are also positive. "We have managed to achieve high yields and good tuber quality. The largest potato field in the Vitebsk region belongs to the Tolochin Cannery - 821 thousand hectares. The enterprise has already harvested the 'second bread' from 44% of its areas. Here, 10.8 thousand tons of potatoes have been procured with a yield of 300 centners per hectare," the Regional Committee for Agriculture and Food explained.
The harvesting of flax continues in the region. The crop has been gathered from an area of 3 thousand hectares, yielding 6.2 thousand tons of flax straw of average grade 1. Sowing of winter grain crops is actively underway. 60% of the areas have been ploughed, and 48.3 thousand hectares have been sown, which corresponds to 19.3%. The leaders in this regard are Beshenkovichi (35.9%), Miory (26%), and Glubokoe (25.3%) districts. -0-