Farms in the Vitebsk region plan to complete winter sowing by October 1

September 29, Vitebsk / Sergei Kochetov - BELTA /. Farms in the Vitebsk region plan to fully complete the sowing of winter crops by October 1, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Agriculture and Food Department told BELTA. As of September 29, over 233 thousand hectares have been sown, which is 93% of the target. Most districts have already completed sowing and started mass chemical weeding of winter cereals and plowing of fallow land for spring sowing. In the structure of winter crops, winter wheat accounts for more than half (55%), and winter triticale and winter rye have also been sown. In 2011, the region plans to increase the grain acreage to 500 thousand hectares, including about 250 thousand hectares for spring crops (wheat, barley, oats). Farms are fully provided with seed stock for next year's sowing, and mineral fertilizers are being accumulated. Potato harvesting is nearing completion on farms. As of September 29, this crop has been harvested from an area of about 4.3 thousand hectares, which is 82.5% of the areas to be harvested. The average potato yield is 141 centners per hectare. -0-