Agriculture Ministry reports Ukraine sows 1.2 million ha with spring grains

Published March 31, 2017 at 5:12 pm

A combine harvester gathers grain from a field in the village of Mala Divytsa on July 27, 2015. The three brand new combines working these fields about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Kiev are integral elements in the maddening state of affairs the crisis-wracked ex-Soviet state faces. Ukraine's total crop production reached a post-Soviet record of 63 million tonnes in 2014 and is on course to nearly match that mark this year.

Photo by AFP

Ukraine has sowed 1.2 million hectares with early grain and leguminous crops, the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food has said.

According to information on its website, spring wheat was sown on 76,000 hectares (or 40 percent of the plan), spring barley on 819,000 hectares (40 percent), oats on 80,000 hectares (39 percent), and peas on 241,000 hectares (87 percent).

The country has also started sowing sugar beets (sown on 7,000 hectares) and sunflower (26,000 hectares).

As reported, with reference to the ministry, the areas under spring crops in 2017 will be 7.2 million hectares, including 2.4 million hectares under early spring crops.