A conference call on the issues of sowing winter crops was held via video conference at the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee
As expected, the weather has once again begun to make adjustments: rains have started in all regions of Vitebsk Oblast. There is not much time left to complete sowing within the optimal agro-technical deadlines, and the weather forecasts, alas, are not optimistic.
— If we sow 7,000 hectares per day, as is happening now, we will not be able to complete the planned work by October 1st or October 10th, — noted the Chairman of the Oblast Executive Committee, Nikolai Sherstnev. — Therefore, the complacency of farm managers and chairmen of district executive committees is incomprehensible. The available technical capabilities allow us to do much more than is being done today.
According to the head of the oblast, there are personnel and the necessary agricultural machinery, but the plowing work in some regions of the oblast is not organized at the proper level. And the situation in Braslavsky, Senno, Ushachsky, Sharkovshchinsky, Shumilinsky, and Rossonsky districts in this regard is particularly concerning.
As reported by the Chairman of the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Oblast Executive Committee, Sergei Egorov, as of the morning of September 20, Vitebsk Oblast agrarians have sown 110 thousand hectares of winter crops out of the planned 300 thousand, which is a significant lag. Meanwhile, a large amount of work on fodder harvesting, including the harvesting of corn, which is almost ready, needs to be carried out in parallel.
According to Sergei Valerievich, as of today, 770 reversible plows, 807 cultivators, 442 disc harrows, 258 combined soil-cultivating units, 40 wide-cut harrows are in good working order in the oblast, and there are 485 sowing units and 280 grain drills of various makes, 5483 tractors, and more than a thousand high-power tractors available. This quantity is sufficient to carry out plowing and sowing qualitatively.
As positive examples, Sergey Egorov cited the organization of labor in Dubrovensky, Vitebsky, and Verkhnedvinsky districts, where work is proceeding at an appropriate pace. In the latter, two special mechanized detachments have been organized to prepare fodder, ensile silage in trenches, and assist farms in plowing and sowing when needed. Thus, work should be organized in every region of the oblast, emphasized the chairman of the agricultural and food committee of the oblast executive committee. To this end, it is necessary to utilize the available machinery in agro-industrial associations to the maximum and transfer it to lagging agricultural organizations.
Over the past week, agrarians of the Vitebsk region have plowed only about 26 thousand hectares of land, which averages slightly more than 4 thousand hectares per day.
Based on these rates, some districts will simply not be able to complete the sowing campaign in the planned volume, which means they will not fulfill the task set by the oblast executive committee and will receive a reduced grain harvest next year.
In order to study the current situation in two districts of the oblast – Ushachsky and Senno – relevant inspections were carried out, during which it was found that not all machinery, including high-powered equipment, is being maximally utilized in the fields. In many farms, the quality of plowing is suffering: sod remains everywhere in the fields, which will subsequently prevent the seeds sown in the ground from germinating. The weed infestation of the land is a cause for concern. In some districts, the availability of seed treatment agents is less than 50 percent.
The inspection groups concluded that the main reason for the low sowing rates is the lack of timely organization of machinery repair and maintenance, low executive discipline at the local level, and the failure of managers to make timely decisions.
Summarizing the conference call, Nikolay Sherstnev drew the attention of the chairmen of district executive committees and heads of agricultural organizations to the need to intensify efforts and ensure high-quality performance of winter sowing work, and to organize plowing in two shifts.