Ukraine harvested not enough rye to cover its own needs

In the context of climate change, rye is gradually adapting to less favorable growing conditions and has a stable yield even at low humidity levels.

This was reported to AgroPortal.ua by Oleksandr Nechyporenko, Deputy Director of the Institute of Agrarian Economics for Research, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences.

According to him, rye also has a significant advantage over other cereals due to its resistance to cold weather and unpretentiousness to soil quality. It grows well on light and medium loams, and can also withstand sandy and acidic soils, where other crops do not develop well. That is why the bulk of the sown area was traditionally in the Polissya region, where more than 70% of this crop was grown.

Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, in 2021, the leaders in rye production were: Chernihiv region, which accounted for about 28.5% of the total harvest, Zhytomyr region – 12.2%, Kyiv region – 12.0%. Volyn, Sumy, and Rivne regions followed with a share of 6-9%.

The hostilities have undoubtedly affected the crop structure.

“In 2024, Rivne region leads the rye producers’ ranking, with the share of harvesting amounting to 17.2%. The second place is occupied by Volyn region with the share of 15.9%. The position of Chernihiv region, which suffered from the aggression, weakened due to the reduction of the area under crops by three times and amounted to only 13.9% of the total rye harvest in Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Nechyporenko.

According to him, in 2024, the total harvest of rye is only 221 thsd tonnes. This does not cover the current needs by more than 50 thsd tonnes. By the way, in 2021 the gross harvest of rye reached 593 thsd tonnes.

Tags: Ukraine, crop forecast