Vitebsk region farms have harvested half of the potato fields

September 20, Vitebsk / Sergei Kochetov - BELTA /. Farms in the Vitebsk region have harvested potatoes from an area of over 2.6 thousand hectares, which is almost 50% of the areas to be harvested, the committee for agriculture and food of the regional executive committee informed a BELTA correspondent. The pace of harvesting work in the potato fields this year is 10% higher than last year. As of September 20, about 41 thousand tons of potatoes have been dug up in the region, with an average yield of over 157 centners per hectare. The highest yields are obtained by farms in the Tolochin district, where this figure is almost 390 centners per hectare, as well as by a number of agricultural enterprises in the Verkhnedvinsk, Polotsk, and Vitebsk districts. In total, about 20 farms in the region specialize in potato cultivation, with potato crops exceeding 100 hectares in each of them, and at the Tolochin cannery, they occupy about 500 hectares. According to specialists' forecasts, the gross potato harvest in the region this year will be about 65 thousand tons. 3-4 thousand townspeople provide assistance to villagers in potato harvesting daily. Main vegetable crops have been harvested from an area of almost 348 hectares, which is 38% of the areas to be harvested. 234.5 tons of cabbage have been harvested (average yield 156.3 centners per hectare), almost 2 thousand tons of beets (about 100 centners per hectare), and about 1.1 thousand tons of carrots (160 centners per hectare). In addition, farms have harvested about 960 tons of onions, the harvesting of which has been completed. Sowing of winter cereals has been carried out on an area of almost 164 thousand hectares, or 65.5% of the target, including about 107.5 thousand hectares already planted with wheat, and 18 thousand hectares sown with triticale. -0-