Over the past week, farmers sowed 210.3 thou hectares of grains and legumes compared to 66.6 thou hectares a week earlier, with Ternopil region leading the way with 47.2 thou hectares, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported on Friday.
According to its data, as of March 23, the sowing campaign is already underway in 18 regions of Ukraine, while a week ago it was in 10.
It is noted that since the beginning of this campaign, all categories of farms have sown 293 thousand hectares of grain and leguminous crops, of which 76.1 thousand hectares (26 thousand hectares a week earlier) – spring wheat, 168.1 thousand hectares (44.2 thousand hectares) – spring barley, 35.3 thousand hectares (12 thousand hectares) – peas and 14.2 thousand (0.5 thousand hectares) – oats.
The Ministry clarified that since the beginning of the sowing campaign, farmers in Ternopil region have planted the largest amount of grain and legumes – 67.6 thousand hectares.
Agrarians in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Rivne, Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy regions have started sowing sugar beet, while farmers in Odesa region have started sowing sunflower, the ministry added.
As reported, as of March 25 last year, 150 thousand hectares of agricultural areas were sown in 11 regions, and in 2021, as of the same date, 106 thousand hectares were sown.
As of March 21, 2023, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy forecasted the area under grain and leguminous crops for the 2023 harvest in the territory controlled by Ukraine at 10.24 mln ha, which is 1.41 mln ha or 12.1% less than in 2022.
According to the data and forecasts of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thou hectares (-834 thou hectares y-o-y), winter barley – 536 thou hectares (-255 thou hectares).
The agency expects spring wheat to be planted on 285 thou hectares (+67 thou hectares), spring barley – on 1041 thou hectares (+111 thou hectares), corn – on 3618 thou hectares (-451 thou hectares).
