Alexander Subbotin: Vitebsk region is fully provided with its own seeds of grain and leguminous crops

Vitebsk region is fully provided with its own seeds of grain and leguminous crops, as well as rapeseed, potatoes, flax, and perennial grasses.

The head of the northern region praised the farmers for their selfless work in a year that was not the most favorable for crop production. He noted that a large volume of work had been done, "a lot of material costs and colossal human efforts were invested."

"The region is fully provided with its own seeds of grain and leguminous crops, rapeseed, potatoes, flax, perennial grasses," Alexander Subbotin said, summing up the results. "Issues of providing machinery operators and diesel fuel were resolved in a timely manner. The readiness of agricultural machinery was maintained at the proper level. The sowing plans for all agricultural crops were completed within the deadlines set by the head of state and the government. The crop formation took place in extremely difficult weather conditions due to a deficit of precipitation. From April 11 to June 10, only 62 mm of precipitation fell in the region, or 32% of the norm. Vitebsk and Polotsk regions received only 16% of the annual precipitation norm."

The short growing season against the backdrop of insufficient moisture and abnormal heat did not allow for the realization of the potential invested in crop formation. However, the meticulous work of previous years to improve agricultural production in the Vitebsk region and increase its efficiency had a positive effect. Here, a scientifically based structure of sown areas has been introduced, high-yielding crop varieties are used, high-performance machinery is employed, and staff are trained to work in modern conditions. As a result, the region harvested 810 thousand tons of grain, including cereals, cruciferous, groats, and corn.

"Nearly 90 thousand tons of rapeseed oilseeds have been harvested, or 105% of the previous year's level. In the Orsha district, rapeseed showed the highest yield - over 26 centners per hectare, and SPC "Larinovka" and Agro-kombinat "Yubileiny" achieved record yields - 39.6 and 35.7 centners per hectare, respectively. A good potato harvest has been grown, with each hectare yielding almost 400 centners of tubers. The main potato producer, RUP "Tolochinsky Cannery", has once again confirmed its leadership - 50.5 thousand tons were harvested from an area of 1100 hectares with an average yield of 459 centners per hectare. For public livestock farming, grass forage has been procured at 23 centners per conditional head of cattle on average across the region. This volume is sufficient for livestock overwintering," noted the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.

"BELTA"