Gomel oblast ready to start harvesting campaign on July 2-5

Gomel oblast is ready to start harvesting grain crops on July 2-5, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Foodstuffs of Belarus Vasily Pavlovsky told BelTA. According to him, the companies of the oblast will be the first in the country to launch harvesting campaign large areas under crops many crops have wilted due to heatwave. First thing the agricultural producers will harvest the crops in the southern regions affected by the heatwave. Other regions of the Gomel oblast hope to get good cash grain harvest. At first they will reap winter rape, then barley, triticale, winter grain crops. The Gomel oblast will be followed by the agricultural companies of the Brest, Minsk and Grodno oblast and in mid July by the Vitebsk and Mogilev oblasts. The Ministry of Agriculture and Foodstuffs says that this year the harvesting campaign will start 1,5-2 weeks earlier than last year. All the companies are ready: the equipment has been repaired; the stocks of fuel have been made. The issue on allocation of Br80 billion to buy fuel for the harvesting campaign is currently under consideration. “The harvesting campaign is going to be difficult like the whole agricultural year,” Vasily Pavlovsky said. The main difficulty is uneven ripening of crops what entails selective harvesting. Grain drying facilities will have to store around 500 thousand tons of rolled grain. Vasily Pavlovsky noted that the best crops this year are expected in Vitebsk and Minsk oblasts as these regions have been less affected by the heatwave. These regions are set to reap the highest harvest. The worst affected region is the Gomel oblast which looks set to have shortages of forage grain. Therefore the issue on the grain exchange between the oblasts and regions is on the agenda. Belarus will not export grain, Vasily Pavlovsky said. There is a need to use rationally grain resources as the grain shortages are prognosticated in Moldova, Ukraine (due to the heatwave) and in Russia. According to the preliminary data, the crops on the area of around 50 thousand hectares were lost; and were hit on the area of 100 thousand hectares by the heatwave. This year Belarus hopes to get the harvest no worse than last year. The biological harvest in the fields is estimated at 7 million tons.