Ukrainian farmers sowed 101.9 thousand hectares of grain and legumes last week, compared to 120.5 thousand hectares the previous week and 207.3 thousand hectares the week before, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported on Friday.
According to the Ministry, the area under spring grains and pulses reached 722.4 thou hectares, or 7% of the planned 10.24 mln ha for 2023.
As noted, the pace of sowing is significantly lower than a year earlier, when as of April 8, 1.94 million hectares of land were sown with major crops, which was 14.4% of the 13.44 million hectares planned for sowing.
It is noted that since the beginning of the sowing campaign, spring wheat plantings have reached 142.8 thousand hectares (126.7 thousand hectares a week earlier), spring barley – 436 thousand hectares (376.6 thousand hectares), peas – 84.7 thousand hectares (73.1 thousand hectares) and oats – 53.6 thousand hectares (41.3 thousand hectares), millet – 0.7 thousand hectares (0.2 thousand hectares).
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the leaders in field work with grains and legumes are farmers of Volyn region – 19 thou hectares. It adds that sugar beet sowing has started in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy regions, and the sown area reached 32.7 thou hectares (25.6 thou hectares a week earlier).
Sunflower is being sown by farmers in Mykolaiv, Odesa, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, where the planted areas reached 37.2 thou hectares (21 thou hectares a week earlier).
Corn sowing has started in Sumy region, with the area under the crop reaching 0.7 thou hectares.
According to the Ministry’s forecast, in 2023, the area under grains and pulses will amount to 10.24 mln ha, down 1.4 mln ha from 2022. The area under the main oilseeds may be increased, in particular, under sunflower – 5.64 mln ha (+ 476 thsd ha), rapeseed – 1.37 mln ha (+ 110 thsd ha), soybeans – 1.84 mln ha (+ 334 thsd ha). At the same time, the sugar beet area is expected to recover to the pre-war level – up to 220 thou hectares, compared to 180 thou hectares in 2022 and 226 thou hectares in 2021.
