Agricultural organizations in Belarus are completing rapeseed harvesting

August 18, Minsk / Tatyana Lobas - BELTA /. The harvesting of rapeseed is nearing completion in agricultural organizations of Belarus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food told BELTA. As of August 18, 93% of the planned area has been harvested. Farms in Brest, Gomel, Grodno and Minsk regions are harvesting rapeseed on the last hectares. In Mogilev region, 3.3% remains to be harvested, in Vitebsk region - about 28%. 741 thousand tons of rapeseed oilseeds have been threshed, which is 144 thousand tons more than on the same date last year. The increase in yield is due to the expansion of sown areas by 37.4%. Work is underway to prepare the soil for sowing winter rapeseed. Currently, 359 thousand hectares have been prepared, or 87.5% of the plan. 178.9 thousand hectares have been sown. Elite winter rapeseed seeds are being shipped from seed farms and experimental bases to agricultural organizations. This year, compared to last year, the sown areas of winter rapeseed will be increased by 50 thousand hectares to 410 thousand hectares. The sown areas for this strategic crop are expanding annually. Rapeseed oilseeds are sent for processing for the production of edible oil, as well as to feed mills, where they are actively used in the preparation of compound feeds. Rapeseed meal also finds wide application in fodder production. In addition, rapeseed is an excellent predecessor for other crops and "fertilizes" the soil well. Rapeseed oilseeds are also used for the production of biofuels. Farms of the republic have been set the task to increase the production of rapeseed oilseeds to 1 million tons within the next two years. Currently, farms are actively removing straw from the fields to apply glyphosate-containing preparations, which rid the fields of perennial weeds, and are intensively preparing the soil for autumn sowing. -0-