Posted on August, 5, 2024 at 09:30 am
Ukraine can harvest between 65-69 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds this year, according to the Ukrainian Seeds Association which promotes the international standards of the seed industry in Ukraine.
Field crops, especially corn and grains, have the highest seed potential, with the export of corn almost doubling last year, the executive director of the Ukrainian Seeds Association, Siuzana Grygorenko said.
The association is a union of 35 international companies, including in France, Germany and the US, specialised in seed production and breeding technology, importing from and exporting into Ukraine.
“Overall, Ukraine’s planted areas have been declining for the third year in a row, both for spring and winter crops, in part due to logistical difficulties and Russia’s full-scale invasion and shelling of Ukrainian energy systems,” the association said.
Last month, Ukraine experienced an “abnormal heatwave” which lasted for about three weeks, with experts predicting that this will “significantly reduce” yields and negatively affect the result, according to the association.
Latest data by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine show that Ukraine has already harvested more than 22 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds so far. The following amounts have been harvested:
This year’s harvest of early grain crops started two weeks earlier than traditionally, the seeds association said. To date, more than 19 million tonnes of grain and over three million tonnes of oilseeds have been harvested.
The Ukrainian Seeds Association has been involved in Ukrainian agricultural production for over 14 years and “successfully adapted” the country’s seed industry to meet international standards, the association said.
The country is currently working to legalise the export of seeds of sunflower and rapeseed, soybean and sugarbeet, according to Grygorenko who said that seedcorn production was the “most active” in the past two years.