Ukraine. The sunflower harvest is almost 40% less than last year

Ukrainian farmers collected 10.1 million tons of sunflower seeds this year, which is 6.3 million tons or 38% less than last year.

This is evidenced by the data of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and State Statistics.

The decrease in the sunflower harvest this year is caused by several factors. Firstly, due to the Russian military aggression, the acreage under sunflowers decreased. If last year the crop was sown on an area of about 6.6 million hectares, then this year the sown area under it did not even reach 5 million hectares.

Secondly, due to unfavorable weather conditions in autumn, in particular, prolonged rains, many farms did not finish harvesting sunflowers. As of December 16, it was harvested from an area of 4.6 million hectares, or 98% of all sown areas.

As farmers tell in private conversations, it is possible to harvest sunflowers in winter, but the quality of such seeds is extremely low and requires a long drying time, so most often such areas are counted as crop loss.

In addition, the rainy autumn and the delay in harvesting caused the development of sunflower diseases, and as a result, the yield also decreased. If last year it was harvested with a yield of 24.6 t/ha, this year this indicator is at the level of 21.8 t/ha.

Tags: sunflower, crop forecast, Ukraine