Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops in good condition, scientists say
KHMELNYTSKYI, UKRAINE – AUGUST 05: A combine harvesters of Astarta-Kyiv agri-industrial holding harvests wheat on August 5, 2022 in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine. In normal times, Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, but the Russian invasion and naval blockade has trapped millions of metric tons of grains here, raising fears of a global food crisis. On Monday, a ship full of corn was the first such vessel to leave Ukraine’s southern port of Odessa following a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, to ensure the safe passage of grain to foreign ports. (Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)
Alexey Furman | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops – winter wheat and barley – are in good condition and could produce a good harvest, Ukraine’s academy of agricultural science was quoted as saying on Monday.
“The analysis of the viability of winter wheat … showed that the vast majority of plants – 92% to 97%, depending on the predecessor and sowing date – were in relatively good condition,” the APK-Inform consultancy quoted a report by the academy as saying, despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is a traditional grower of winter wheat which accounts for around 95% of the country’s overall wheat output, and key for both local consumption and exports.
“There are good reasons to make preliminary forecasts for the formation of yields that will be close to the average long-term average,” the report said.
The scientists say the reserves of productive moisture in the soil under winter crops remained “quite significant and did not cause concern”. The winter wheat area sown for the 2023 harvest decreased to around 4.1 million hectares from more than 6 million sown a year earlier because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
Of the winter wheat sown last year, only 4.9 million hectares were harvested in…
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