Agrofirm Dobrobut from the group of companies of Astarta agro-industrial holding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in the country, has started sowing winter rape for the season-2024.
According to information on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), the agroholding will reduce the area under rape by 12% in the new season and will allocate 12,000 hectares to it.
“Compared to last year, we reduced the sown area under rapeseed by 12%, but only at the expense of crop rotation,” the press service quoted Astarta’s director of agricultural production Vadim Skrypnyk as saying.
He noted that for the Poltava region, which is always subject to unfavorable weather conditions in summer, sowing winter crops is the least risky and allows you to get good yields. “In addition, we have noticed that early sowing brings a positive effect. Therefore, this year we start sowing earlier where possible,” he added.
According to the agricultural holding, Astarta will start sowing somewhat later in the western regions of the country due to a delay in winter wheat harvest due to weather conditions.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar mills, agricultural farms with a land bank of 220,000 hectares and dairy farms with 22,000 cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In the first half of 2023, Astarta’s revenue from sales of key products increased by 64.8% year-on-year to UAH 10.72 bln. The main contribution was made by sales of sugar – UAH 3.27 bln, which increased by 75.5%, corn – UAH 2.66 bln (+53.2%) and soybean meal – UAH 1.96 bln (+84.5%).
Agroholding “Continental Farmers Group” began sowing winter crops for the harvest of 2024, for which it plans to allocate 97.8 thousand hectares, reported the press service of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, Continental is traditionally the first to sow winter rape, for which 34.8 thousand hectares will be allocated. Weather conditions favor sowing work: thanks to precipitation in the soil is enough moisture.
“We apply different production technologies according to the type of seeders we have. These include direct seeding immediately after harvesting wheat and barley with Horsch Focus seeders, and traditional continuous seeding. We also plan to use precision seeders with a row spacing of 35 cm,” said Konstantin Shityuk, Operations Director of Continental Farmers Group.
According to him, sowing of winter rape began in accordance with the planned dates. The company is fully provided with seeds, mineral fertilizers, protection products and fuel and lubricants.
Agroholding intends to complete sowing of rape by August 20, after which it will start sowing of winter wheat and barley, for which 49.7 thousand hectares and 13.1 thousand hectares will be allocated respectively.
The pace of sowing winter wheat and barley will depend on the speed of harvesting the precursor crops. In the regions where Continental operates, the vegetation of spring crops (soybeans, sunflowers, corn) will be prolonged due to delays in development. The reason for this is weather conditions and rather late sowing dates, explained the agroholding.
In addition, the early grain harvest continues on Continental’s fields, which has been harvested from 65% of the planned areas.
“Winter barley threshing is fully completed, with a net yield of 6.39 tons per hectare, which is higher than planned. Winter rape harvest is nearing completion. The net yield of the crop is also higher than planned and is 3.74 tons per hectare”, – stated in the agroholding.
Mriya Agroholding and CFG, united under the name Continental Farmers Group, have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya made a deal with international investor Salic UK on the sale of assets.
Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which invests in agricultural and livestock products.
Agroton Agrarian Group now controls the property and 5 thousand hectares of land bank in Kharkiv region out of 110 thousand hectares in Kharkiv and Luhansk regions that were previously under cultivation, the group reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to the report, Agroton is currently involved in clearing farmland and preparing for spring field work.
As noted, the company has no control over the property and land in the occupied Luhansk region, so its employees have left.
The management of the agroholding promises to provide shareholders with reports on all requirements after the end of the war in Ukraine.
“Agroton” has been working in the Ukrainian market since 1992 and before the full-scale Russian military invasion it specialized in growing grains and oilseeds, producing and selling livestock products. The land bank of Agroton before the war was about 110 thousand hectares in Lugansk and Kharkiv regions. The group owns two poultry farms in Lugansk region.
“Agroton” reported in 2022 that representatives of the so-called “LNR” and OJSC “Agrocomplex named after N.I. Tkachev” (Russian Federation) “seized” all the assets of its parent company Agroton Public Limited in the Luhansk region on May 21, 2022. The management of the group applied to the law enforcement bodies of Ukraine with a request for a legal assessment and bringing to justice those involved in the seizure of its property.
According to the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Russian occupants with the participation of collaborators – citizens of Ukraine stole 20 thousand tons of grain from “Agroton” elevators, as well as collected from its fields and exported to Russia 200 thousand tons of crop 2022. In addition, the invaders stole 40 vehicles to Russia.
Ukrainian banking institutions from the middle of March to May 25, under the government program to support the sowing season 2022, provided loans to farmers for a total of UAH 31.5 billion, including loans and portfolio guarantees for UAH 3.4 billion.
According to the data published on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, 80% (UAH 20.3 billion) of loans provided were portfolio guarantees, while a total of 13,060 agricultural producers received access to financing (last week it was 1,740).
Most loans for the sowing season were attracted by farmers of Kirovohrad (UAH 4.91 billion), Kyiv (UAH 3.37 billion), Vinnytsia (UAH 2.92 billion), Dnipropetrovsk (UAH 2.52 billion) and Odesa regions (UAH 2.48 billion).
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, loans up to UAH 60 million as part of the support for the 2022 sowing season are issued at 0% per annum (under the government financial support program Affordable Loans 5-7-9%). The term of such lending is up to six months, and after its completion, the interest rate for borrowers will be 5% per annum. Such financing can be used by farmers who fall under the definition of an agricultural producer.
Communications and power supply are still missing in the Ivankivska, Dymerska and Polesie united territorial communities of the Vyshgorodsky district of the Kiev region, previously liberated from occupation, measures are being taken to normalize the situation and restore infrastructure in them, said the head of the Kiev regional military administration Oleksandr Pavlyuk.
“The Vyshgorod, Petrovskaya and Pirnovskaya communities are unchanged, the population is provided with the necessary assistance … Slavutych still needs food and medicine,” Pavlyuk wrote in Telegram on Tuesday.
In the Buchansky and Brovarsky districts, where the fighting took place, demining and clearing work continues. Emergency teams are working to restore water, electricity and gas supply. Law enforcement officers fix the crimes caused by the invaders against the civilian population.
In Obukhovsky, Borispolsky, Belotserkovsky and Fastovsky districts of the Kiev region, according to the head of the regional administration, the situation is calm and controlled. “The sowing campaign continues. Critical infrastructure facilities are operating as usual,” Pavlyuk wrote.
Ukrainian banking institutions for the period from mid-March to April 5 issued loans to farmers as part of the state program to support the sowing campaign in the context of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine for a total of UAH 1.79 billion, according to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on Wednesday.
At the same time, it is specified that currently 80% (UAH 1.5 billion) of the provided borrowed funds were portfolio guarantees, and 900 agricultural producers from different regions of the country received access to financing.
Most of all loans for the specified period were attracted by farmers of Kirovohrad region – UAH 405 million (22% of the total), Vinnitsa region – UAH 365 million (20.4%), Dnepropetrovsk region – UAH 267 million (14.9%), Odessa region – UAH 161 million (9%) and Lviv – UAH 159 million (8%) regions.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, loans up to UAH 60 million under this program are issued at 0% per annum (under the state financial support program “Affordable loans 5-7-9%”). The term of such lending is up to 6 months, and after its completion, the interest rate for borrowers will be 5% per annum. Agrarians falling under the definition of an agricultural producer can use the loan.
“Lending to farmers is one of the main priorities of banks. The conditions for granting loans are simplified as much as possible. Moreover, banks lend to our farmers even in those regions where there are battles, because they need to sow, and (…) people go out to their fields,” the ministry quotes its head of Nikolai Solsky.
The agency clarified that the government program to support the sowing campaign is being implemented by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the National Bank and the banking sector.
As reported, at the end of March, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine expanded the procedure for issuing guarantees for agricultural producers on loans on a portfolio basis for the purchase of the resources they need for the sowing campaign in 2022, since due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, part of the farmers lost working capital for carrying out spring work.
Thus, within the framework of portfolio lending to agricultural producers, they will be able to obtain loans for the purchase of fertilizers, plant protection products, pesticides and agrochemicals, fuel, spare parts for agricultural equipment, as well as for replenishment of fixed assets and intangible assets, wages, rent of real estate and movable property, works and services for its operations.
The total budget of this program to support the 2022 sowing season is UAH 50 billion.
