Vitebsk region farmers are harvesting rapeseed and flax straw, and have also begun sowing winter crops

The quality of winter grain sowing by Vitebsk region farmers is under special control of the regional executive authorities. According to the technological regulations, sowing must be completed by September 25. The weight of the future harvest largely depends on meeting the deadlines.

This year, the winter grain acreage is 213 thousand hectares. According to operational data from the regional committee for agriculture and food as of August 9, 95.3 thousand hectares of land have been prepared for sowing (44.8 percent of the plan). 31.2 thousand hectares have been sown (14.6 percent). To complete the work within the optimal timeframe, technological groups of specialists from the regional agricultural committee are closely cooperating with farms and districts of the region.

An equally important task in the September cycle of agricultural work is rapeseed harvesting. The crop has been harvested from an area of 45.2 thousand hectares (68.9 percent of the plan). The total yield is 68.1 thousand tons. The yield is at the same level as last year: 15.1 centners per hectare.

On flax fields, work is underway at a high pace to harvest flax straw, the yield of which is lower this year compared to the previous one. The regional average is 26.8 centners per hectare (in 2014, it was 31 centners). The quality of flax fiber is also slightly lower. The average grade of harvested flax straw is 1.03 (1.06 in 2014). As of August 9, farms in the region have harvested flax straw from an area of 1.68 thousand hectares of pulled flax (15.07 percent). 2303 tons of seeds have been collected with an average yield of 4 centners per hectare.

Andrei ZAKHAROV, "Vitbichi".