In 2017 Ukraine should harvest 62 million tons of grains and legumes

In 2017 Ukraine will produce 62 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.

This is stated by Maxim Martynyuk, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the press service of the Ministry reports.

According to him, as of October 25, following the results of corn harvesting from the area of 2.5 million hectares (55% of the whole), the Department clarifies its previous crop forecast at 62 million tons.

It is noted that 11.7 million tons of corn for grain are threshed, with the productivity of 4.74 t/ha (2016 — 5.83 t/ha). The main factor that influenced the decline in yields is a shortage of precipitation during the vegetation period, primarily in the steppe zone (Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions).

"Corn and wheat form a total of 80% of gross harvest, so this figure was decisive for the generalized forecast. The result, although less than last year, was better than previous expectations, primarily because the influence of weather conditions was uneven. This harvest is the second largest in the modern history of Ukraine, yielding only to last year's record," said Maxim Martynyuk.

Reference: Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine forecasted grain harvest 2017 in the range of 61-63 million tons. Last year, 66 million tons were harvested.