MINSK, 21 August (BelTA) – In 2017 Belarus looks to harvest more than 8 million tonnes of grain, excluding corn, Belarus' Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Vladimir Grakun told the media, BelTA has learned.
“Last year the country harvested 7,012,000 tonnes of grain and leguminous crops. This year, we expect to get approximately 7.8 million. All in all, given all categories of agricultural organizations, farms and individual household plots we are set to harvest more than 8 million tonnes of grain, excluding corn,” Vladimir Grakun noted.
He said that this year 156,000 hectares have been sown with corn. “Last year the harvest was 700,000 tonnes of corn. This year we hope to harvest as much,” the deputy minister said.
According to Vladimir Grakun, farmers were not happy with the first growth. However, the second and third growth will be good and make up for the losses. “We have harvested 41.4% out of 8.540 million tonnes of fodder units and 87% of haylage from perennial grass. The harvesting of the second growth and the third growth is nearing completion. All the conditions are in place so that we fulfill the task. We need to harvest 12.5 million tonnes of fodder units in terms of haylage,” the deputy minister added.
