MINSK, 17 July (BelTA) - Belarus has harvested more than half of the areas planted to rapeseed, Belarus' Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats said at a meeting in the ministry to discuss the progress in the harvesting campaign 2018, BelTA has learned.
“As of this morning the country has already cropped 6.4% of the areas planted to grain crops. The average yield is 26.7 centers per hectare. We have also harvested 56% of the areas planted to winter rapeseed,” Leonid Zayats noted.
He stressed the importance of conducting the harvesting campaign in the coherent and orderly manner. The success will depend on the technical availability of the fleet of harvesters and grain drying facilities, fuel availability, and teamwork at all levels,” the minister noted.
As of 16 July, about 6% of harvesters were not available. “Some 172 grain drying facilities were not ready for the harvesting campaign either. Technical availability of the fleet of harvesters is, of course, higher as against the same date last year, but the harvesting of grain crops has already started. Therefore, the final stage will see very serious efforts to ensure the high availability of the equipment, to harvest not less than 5% of the areas per day. We need to harvest grain crops in a short period of time,” the minister emphasized.
The meeting participants also discussed the winter rapeseed planting. “This is a very difficult campaign. We need to correct the mistakes. We have already accumulated rich experience. Advanced farms boast good harvests. As the practice shows it is very important to plant this crop within a certain period,” the minister noted.
Leonid Zayats also urged to apply continuous monitoring over the status of harvesting equipment, to observe the rule of fire safety and occupational safety in general.
Representatives of the agriculture and food committees of the regional authorities presented their reports via a video conference. Rains are currently delaying the harvest in all the regions of the country.
Grain harvesting in Brest Oblast is in full swing. The availability of grain harvesters and grain drying facilities is at 98%. An estimated 22.5% of areas planted to grain crops have been harvested so far, with about 200,000 tonnes of grain being cropped. The grain crop is expected to hit 950,000 tonnes in the oblast. The rapeseed harvest has already reached 94,000 tonnes.
Vitebsk Oblast plans to kick off its harvest season next week. As of today, 11 districts of Vitebsk Oblast started harvesting rapeseed. About 4% of areas have already been cropped. Brest Oblast has expressed readiness to help other regions to crop flax, and Vitebsk Oblast plans to accept the proposal.
Gomel Oblast has already harvested more than 8% of areas planted to grain crops. Rapeseed has been cropped from more than 90% of the sown areas. 27.7% of areas planted to flax have been harvested so far.
Grodno Oblast has cropped about 8% of areas planted to grain crops and over 60% of areas planted to rapeseed.
Mogilev Oblast has harvested about 17% of rapeseed areas.
Minsk Oblast has cropped 1.72% of areas planted to grain crops, 46.6% of rapeseed areas, and 13.7% of areas planted to flax.
Attending the meeting were representatives of the Industry Ministry, Belgospishcheprom Concern, the State Control Committee, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Interior Ministry.
