HarvEast expands its irrigated areas to 5 thousand hectares

HarvEast covered 1.6 thou. ha of its farmland with irrigation systems. In the next few years, the agriholding plans to extend its irrigated fields to 5 thou. ha.

"The first phase of implementation of HarvEast irrigation systems was launched in 2017. Two irrigation machines by the American manufacturer, Valley, cover 350 ha. A year later, the company increased its irrigated area by 740 ha, and by additional 500 ha in 2019. Thus, today, almost 1,600 ha of cultivated land are irrigated," the report says.

The company has irrigated seed plots for hybridization of sunflower and corn. HarvEast produces elite seeds of wheat, peas, rapeseed and other crops. Thus, the company satisfies its own needs in seeds, and also provides production services for a number of international companies.

"The first irrigation project cost us USD 2.5-3 thou./ha. Today we have experience of the successfully implemented project in Kyiv region, where this cost is about two times lower, as we got the ready infrastructure and consequently reduced the cost," says project manager Igor Yermolaev.

According to him, irrigation has the potential to increase crop yield per hectare up to 4x (depending on the region), therefore the company will expand the irrigated area in the future.

Previously reported that in 2018 HarvEast agroholding finalized the purchase of the Agro-Holding MC assets in Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions.