May 9, 2012

Belarus sows spring crops over 1.55 million ha

The agricultural firms of Belarus sowed spring crops over the areas of 1,557.2 thsd ha (58.8% of the planned areas) as of May 4.

At the same time, early spring grains and leguminous crops already occupied 882.4 thsd ha (85%), the country plans to complete the planting campaign next week. Agrarians already prepared 1788.4 thsd ha of agricultural lands for the spring planting works (67.5% of the plan).

Agricultural organisations planted spring rapeseed throughout 30.6 thsd ha (30.9% of the planned areas), sugar beet - 95.7 thsd ha (96.6%), corn - 386,000 ha (36.9%), including corn for grain - 209,000 ha (80.1%), flaxseed - 40.6 thsd ha (64.5%).

In 2012, Belarus plans to plant spring crops throughout the areas of over 2.6 million ha, including spring grains and leguminous crops -1.4 million ha. In order to create the complete forage base, agrarians decided to expand the planted areas of leguminous crops by 26% compared to the level of 2011 (Belarus planned to plant crops throughout 183.6 thsd ha), soy - up 5.6 times (18.2 thsd ha), sunflower seeds - up 8.4 times (25.1 thsd ha).