The state recommends that farmers sow crops with the maximum unit value, so that in the face of problems in the country with the export of agricultural products due to the military invasion of the terrorist country of the Russian Federation, they receive maximum revenue from the sale of relatively small batches of agricultural raw materials, according to the website of the department with reference to its head Nikolai Solsky.
At the same time, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food on the air of the “UA-marathon” on Monday advised agricultural producers to grow high-margin and relatively easy-to-logistics sunflower, rapeseed and soybeans. According to the agency, the biggest challenge for the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex remains the issue of exporting agricultural crops from the country.
“A significant limitation of export logistics opportunities directly affects how much grain farmers and agrarians can sell – respectively, how much money they need to get for wages, sowing, payments to tenants, and the like. This is the most difficult thing,” the minister said. According to Solsky, due to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy expects in 2022 a reduction in the sown area of spring crops by 20.5%, or 3.5 million hectares – to 13.44 million hectares from 16.92 million hectares in 2021 year.
The Minister also pointed to the presence of a certain forecasted shortage of fuel, but at the moment Ukrainian farmers have access to fuel for sowing. “It is clear that the sowing season is just beginning, and the amount of fuel needs to be increased, but in a market economy with such an enterprising conscious people as ours, especially with farmers, a solution will be found,” he stressed.
At the same time, it is clarified that the priorities of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy at present are the establishment of logistics, enabling farmers to continue working and earning income, keeping businesses from closing, providing shareholder the opportunity to receive rent, as well as employment of workers in the agro-industrial complex. Solsky emphasized in the message that today all states need to adequately and deeply understand the complexity of the situation and make every effort to stop the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. “After all, any continuation of the war is a rise in the cost of products for all countries, including even those who had not thought about it before,” the minister summed up.
As reported, as of April 1, Ukraine sowed 0.60 million hectares with basic agricultural crops, which is 4.4% of the 13.44 million hectares planned for the current season.
Sowing of spring crops has already started in 21 regions of Ukraine, whereas last year 15 regions started sowing on the same date. The total area sown with spring barley as of April 1 amounted to 327.3 thousand hectares, spring wheat – 81.0 thousand hectares, peas – 62.3 thousand hectares, oats – 50.1 thousand hectares, sunflower – 33.7 thousand hectares ha, sugar beet – 30.6 thousand ha, soybean – 10.4 thousand ha, spring rapeseed – 7.6 thousand ha. Due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, a decrease in the sown areas of high-margin crops (sunflower and corn) is expected this season, while increasing the sown areas of crops that are easier to produce, but important in terms of food security – peas, barley and oats.
The sowing campaign amid quarantine started quite well in all regions of Ukraine, the pace is approximately the same as in 2019, with a slight advance due to early spring, Director General of UkrAgroConsult consulting agency Serhiy Feofilov has said.
“The import component in sowing resource is still very high. Nevertheless, the main material and technical resources were imported into Ukraine and purchased by farms before the quarantine and the devaluation. The negative impact on cost of production is still minimal,” the agency said on UkrAgroConsult’s website, citing Feofilov.
Feofilov said that it is a positive point in the fact that corn seeds are mainly produced at Ukrainian seed plants, only parental forms are imported. The expansion of spring grain will be precisely due to corn. The situation with plant protection is almost the same, namely all needed is imported, except that the line of products will decrease against expectations, the top manager said.
“The situation is contradictory in terms of fuel. Fuel supply is sufficient and the main intrigue is the price level. On the one hand, we can expect it to decline after the oil falls. On the other hand, fuel sellers tend to price stabilization, given hryvnia devaluation and a possible reduction in supplies,” the director general of UkrAgroConsult said.
IMC agricultural holding has completed the spring sowing campaign on 104,100 ha compared with 105,200 ha in 2018.
According to a company press release, the sowing area under sunflower this year amounted to 22,800 hectares, under soybean – 10,800 hectares, under corn – 69,500 hectares. Also about 1,000 hectares were planted with fodder crops to meet the needs of the company’s dairy farming.
“In the current season, we managed to sow crops in almost optimal time period, despite the fact that sowing took place with certain pauses caused by weather conditions,” Chief Operating Officer of the IMC Oleksandr Verzhykhovskyi said.
IMC’s core business is cultivation of grains, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine. The agricultural holding cultivates about 130,000 hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. It owns storage facilities with a capacity of 554,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds.
Ukraine has started sowing soybeans, planting 31,000 hectares (2% of the forecast) with this crop, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has reported.
According to the ministry, as of April 17 some 1.5 million hectares are sown with barley (94%), 150,000 hectares with wheat (90%), 165,000 hectares with oats (84%), and 283,000 hectares with peas (83%).
Ukraine has also sowed 264,000 hectares with corn (6%), 194,000 hectares with sugar beets (79%), and one million hectares with sunflower (18%).
In addition, according to the ministry, agrarians fertilized winter crops on 7.5 million hectares (99% of the forecast).
As of March 7, 2019, Ukraine has started sowing early grain and leguminous crops in seven regions. The crops had been sowed on 58,000 ha or 3% of the target.
According to a report of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine, spring barley was sowed on 34,000 ha (2%), wheat on 1,000 ha (1%), peas on 23,000 ha (7%) and millet on 500 ha.
In addition, fertilizer input on areas with winter crops in grain was finished on 4.6 million ha (60% of the target).
Fertilizers were input on 3.8 million ha with winter wheat (59%), on 43,000 ha with winter rye (38%) and 718,000 ha with winter barley (71%).
In addition, areas with winter rapeseeds were filled with fertilizers on 1.1 million ha (83%).
The ministry said that the logistics of agricultural products remains a bottleneck of Ukrainian exports.
“Therefore, there is a proposal and a common desire of the response team members [the interdepartmental response team in agricultural logistics] to transfer its work to the systemic track. In parallel with the current and urgent issues, we will work on a long-term development strategy and logistics efficiency in agriculture, and jointly worked out decisions and proposals will be submitted to the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” Acting Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to her, among the key issues requiring strategic discussion are three issues: the predictability of operation or closure of low-efficiency stations and the possibility of alternative solutions; fair and transparent pricing; systematic vision of the formation of routes of transportation of agricultural products in 2019.
Ukrainian agrarians as of November 5 had sowed 7 million hectares with winter grains with the projected area being 7.2 million hectares for the 2019 harvest.
According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, 6 million hectares of the area were sown with winter wheat, with the forecast being 6.2 million hectares, 120,000 hectares with rye with the forecast standing at 150,000 hectare, and 870,000 hectares with winter barley with the forecast being 870,000 hectares.
In addition, one million hectares were sown with winter rapeseeds, with a forecast of 890,000 hectares.
“We are reaching the projected result of 7.2 million hectares under winter crops for grain. As of November 5, about 150,000 hectares more were sown than on the same date last year,” First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said on Facebook.
According to him, the work was carried out within the best terms, the level of soil moisture was sufficient both for sowing and to ensure the best conditions for growth and development.
“The availability of material and technical resources was at the level or above the need. The availability of mineral fertilizers for the autumn field work amounted to 776,000 tonnes or 108% of the application, in particular phosphate fertilizers amounted to 207,000 tonnes (109% of the need),” Martyniuk reported.
