Astarta-Kyiv harvests sunflower higher than planned

The rainy summer delayed the start of the sunflower harvesting campaign in the farms of the agro-industrial holding Astarta-Kyiv, although the company is largely satisfied with the yield indicators as weather conditions contributed to a good crop, the company's chief agronomist Roman Pavlyk says.

This year the holding planted about 30 thou. ha of sunflower, he adds, with larger areas concentrated in Poltava region, and in western Ukraine and Chernihiv region.

"This year's yield is higher than planned, we already observe indicators at a level higher than 3 t/ha, and at some enterprises in Poltava region, it reaches 3.5 and even 4 t/ha. Although the average figures were anticipated at the level of 3 t/ha. However, we had some problems with pests, which also actively developed in favourable wet conditions. We used drones for spraying, and in most cases successfully solved the problem," Roman Pavlyk comments.

Sunflower harvest in Ukraine was 68% completed as of October 20. The crop yielded 2.19 t/ha.