This spring the agrarians have sown about a quarter less area than last year, the unoccupied territory was sown as much as possible. However, during August-September the area of sowing winter crops will be reduced significantly – by 30-60% as compared with the last year.
According to “ProAgro Group”, this forecast was voiced by the Minister of Agricultural Policy Mykola Solskyi in an interview with “Ukrinform”.
Minister explained the reduction of sowing area by the fact that the price of grain at the time of autumn sowing season has not yet fully recovered, so farmers are likely to want to wait, expecting to sow the fields next spring.
“Thus, the grain season will not be lost. It is clear that farmers want more certainty and more money at the time of the sowing season,” Solskyi explained.
To help farmers, it is planned to resume sowing season lending under state guarantees.
“We used to have a crediting program under the state guarantee: 80% of the credit is provided by state guarantee and 20% is secured by collateral, including grain. We are planning to restore it in the coming weeks and give farmers an opportunity to wait out hard times until the market recovers,” the minister said.
According to him, even if part of the fields will be sown in spring and not in autumn, it will not affect the volume of harvest, although now it is difficult to make accurate predictions about grain production in 2023.
