Belarus to harvest more than 10 million tonnes of grain this year, including corn, notes Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Food, Vladimir Grakun
Mr. Grakun has announced that the harvest is complete, with 9,167,000 tonnes of grain (excluding corn and cereal) already gathered. With corn included, the harvest will exceed 10 million tonnes. He explains, “This year, we expected about 1.5 million tonnes of corn but the heat wave has reduced this slightly: at least 1 million tonnes are foreseen.”The Deputy Minister stresses that this year’s harvest is not only large but of high quality, with more than 40 districts of Belarus reporting yields of over 40 centners/ha (39.3 is the national average). Some districts have enjoyed yields of over 70 and 80 — and, even, more than 90 centners of grain per hectare: Progress-Vertilishki (Grodno District) has produced a yield of 99 centners/ha, while Gastellovskoye JSC (Minsk District) reports 94 centners/ha, and Novaya Zhizn JSC (Nesvizh District) has reaped 92.4 centners/ha.
According to Mr. Grakun, the strict enforcement of technologies has helped farmers achieve these results. “Where there’s dictatorship of technologies, results are evident,” he asserts.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Vasily Sedin believes that investments in the agro-industrial complex are playing a major role. He emphasises, “In recent years, much has been done for agriculture — especially grain-processing. Over the past three years, we’ve built 560 grain drying complexes, extending the capacity of grain storage facilities to about 1 million tonnes.”
Grain yield could soon reach an average of 45 centners/ha.
