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BLAGOVESCHENSK, June 30 Agrarians of the Amur Region are planning to set a new record for soybean and grain harvest, the sowing campaign was successful, the area of crop placement exceeded last year's figures, according to the government of the Amur region.
“Weather conditions allowed our farmers to sow on time, in good conditions. If favorable weather continues throughout the summer, in autumn we can count on another record, not only in soybean production, but also in grain crops. Based on the results of last year, Amur farmers showed a 15% increase in soybean yields, while the weather conditions in the region were noticeably worse,» said Vasily Orlov, Governor of the region.
According to the preliminary results of the sowing campaign, which were announced by the government, the farmers exceeded the plan for sowing spring and grain crops, their areas were occupied by an average of 6,000 hectares more. The main crop of the Amur region — soybean — occupied 887 thousand hectares this year. This is more than the plan by 32,000 hectares and by 25,000 hectares compared to last year.
According to forecasts of the regional Ministry of Agriculture, this year farmers can receive about 597 thousand tons of grain crops, which is 150 thousand tons more than last year, and 168 thousand tons of corn (+12% compared to last year). It is planned to harvest more than 1,710,000 tons of soybeans (an increase of 150,000 tons compared to last year), with a yield of 19.3 centners per hectare.
Specialists note a slight decrease in the area of potatoes and vegetables compared to last year, this is due to the opening of the border with China and the adjustment of supply and demand in the market. To date, potato plantings have already occupied 90% of the planned area.
The Minister of Agriculture of the region Oleg Turkov noted at the meeting that this year the Amur farmers are provided with everything they need — seeds, machinery, fuels and lubricants and plant protection products, and recalled the need to apply mineral fertilizers, since this directly affects the allocation of support measures to farmers.
«The Ministry of Agriculture is ready to provide assistance only to those agricultural producers who take care of their land, and do not seek to get momentary profit from it at the cost of depleting arable land. In fact, this year 42.8 tons of mineral fertilizers were applied — this is 76% of plan, this figure is 14% higher than last year. Good results this year were noted in Ivanovsky, Svobodnensky, Romnensky, as well as Oktyabrsky districts and districts. The rest of the territories need to pay attention to this issue,» Turkov said.