Ukrainian farmers will harvest a record buckwheat crop

Ukrainian farmers are harvesting a record buckwheat crop this year. This was made possible due to the record area under this crop compared to previous years and high yields. As of the first week of October, farmers have already harvested 173.8 thousand tons of buckwheat, and this is not the end of the harvest. Last year, about 148 thousand tons were harvested. This was stated by Taras Vysotsky, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

In the spring, agricultural producers increased the area under buckwheat by 20 thou hectares compared to last year, up to 141.5 thou hectares. This is the largest area planted with this crop since Ukraine’s independence.

“This year, thanks to favorable weather conditions and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, buckwheat harvesting is going faster than last year. We have already harvested 86% of the area compared to 49% at the same date last year. In terms of yield, we also have better results: the current figure is 1.42 t/ha, while last year’s figure was 1.22 t/ha on about the same share of the area. In fact, these factors together gave us the opportunity to harvest a record buckwheat crop,” emphasized Taras Vysotskyi.

He added that this will help to reduce the final price of cereals, but the factor of expensive processing, logistics, and packaging should not be dismissed.

Vinnytsia (23.40 thsd tonnes) and Khmelnytsky (22.50 thsd tonnes) regions are the leaders in buckwheat harvesting. Last year, during the same period, Sumy (15.37 thsd tonnes) and Vinnytsia (12.20 thsd tonnes) regions harvested the most buckwheat.

As a reminder, in pre-war 2021, 91.90 thou hectares of buckwheat were sown. At that time, the harvest was over 105 thsd tonnes, which was considered a record.

Tags: Buckwheat, Ukraine