Vasiliy Pavlovskiy: sowing of cereals to be completed by May 1

The sowing of grain-crops in the basic area (90 per cent) will be completed by May 1 in conformity with the schedule, deputy agriculture minister Vasiliy Pavlovskiy told BelTA. According to him, the sowing campaign has been competed on 81 per cent of the area. Brest and Gomel oblasts have completed the sowing. By May 1 Minsk and Grodno oblast are expected to finish the campaign soon as they “have significantly enhanced their efforts” over the recent days, the deputy minister said. Some 6 and 18 per cent of the area is remained unsown yet in the two oblasts. On the whole, wheat has been sown on 120 thousand hectares, 81 per cent of the plan. Brest oblast agricultural companies have expanded the wheat sown areas; last hectares have remained for Grodno and Gomel oblasts to complete the campaign. Some 11 per cent of wheat is left to be sown in Minsk oblast. According to Vasiliy Pavlovskiy, the sowing of cereals in the northern regions of Belarus has been taken under special control recently. Vitebsk and Mogilev oblast still need to sow 44 and 46 per cent of grain-crops. They are breaking the schedule because the preparation of soil was very slow. In this connection a meeting chaired by Belarusian premier Sergei Sidorskiy will be held in Sharkovschina region of Brest oblast on April 29. The session will analyse performance of heads of several districts and will take measures to accelerate the sowing progress in the region. Vasiliy Pavlovskiy informed, farmers in northern regions are sowing almost round-the-clock, and they borrowed powerful tractors and drivers of industrial enterprises. However, the problem is that the northern regions were tardy to start sowing technical crops, corn, additional fertilizing of winter crops and perennial grasses, while in other regions the work is in full swing. At present efforts are concentrated on sowing flax, sugar beet, extra fertilizing the winter crops and perennial grasses. As of April 28 flax has been sown on an area of 20,400 hectares, 30 per cent of the plan. Sugar beet plantations occupy 43,600 hectares, 40 per cent of the plan. By May 5 the sowing of the crops is to be completed. Belarus has started corn sowing (over 4 per cent has been sown). By the way, this year domestic corn seeds make 70 per cent of the stock (Mozyr Corn Calibration Plant supplied 8,000 tons of corn seeds out of the required 12,000 tons). The sowing of vegetables and potato continues. The work is to be accomplished by May 10. Belarusian farmers also started sowing fodder roots, annual forage crops and re-sowing winter crops and reseeding perennial grasses. The process uses grain crops and a mixture of annual forage crops.