There will be no increase in total sown areas in Ukraine this year – Solsky

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food hopes that Ukraine’s sown areas in spring 2024 will be at the level of last year. However, the ministry does not rule out a certain reduction in the event of a negative scenario.

This was stated by Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky in an interview with Reuters.

“I don’t expect any drastic changes in the acreage. If the sown areas do decrease, it will be a very slight decrease,” Solsky said.

Ukrainian farmers sowed 12.75 mln ha of spring crops for the 2023 harvest. Of these, 4 million hectares of corn, 5.3 million hectares of sunflower and 1.78 million hectares of soybeans.

According to the minister, due to bad weather conditions last fall, less winter wheat was sown – 4.2 million hectares compared to 4.4 million hectares in 2022.

“There will definitely be no increase in the total planted areas (this year – ed. note). I admit their reduction, and the question immediately arises: what to sow then? We have only three options – sunflower, soybeans and corn,” said Solsky.

He noted that farmers will try to increase soybean acreage, but the lack of quality seeds may become a serious obstacle. According to Solsky, relatively low prices for sunflower seeds and mandatory crop rotation will prevent the increase in the area under this crop.

The minister added that winter wheat has so far survived the winter without serious damage, but it is too early to talk about the quality of the upcoming harvest. The lack of funds caused by the war and difficulties with exports has forced farmers to save money and use lower quality wheat seeds.

Tags: wheat, sunseed, sown area, sowing, Ukraine, corn, soybean