Frost damages over 20% of winter crops in Kirovohrad region
In Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine, more than 20% of winter crops were damaged by frost and icing in February. The affected area totals nearly 140,000 hectares of wheat, peas, barley, and rapeseed. The data is still being updated as field inspections continue, said Valeria Furmanova, head of the regional Department of Agro-Industrial Development, Suspilne Kropyvnytskyi reports.
According to her, 113,000 hectares out of 480,000 hectares of winter grain crops were damaged, along with 26,000 hectares out of 74,000 hectares of winter rapeseed.
“These are significant figures, but at this stage they are not critical: farms are systematically conducting field inspections,” Furmanova said.
Farmers are currently expected to reseed the lost winter crops with spring crops. At the same time, they are advised to prepare documentation to receive compensation through the State Agrarian Register.
Vitalii Posternak, an agronomist at a farm in Kirovohrad region, said their farm lost about 100 hectares of crops due to adverse weather conditions.
“The pecularity of this winter was the absence of snow cover: severe frosts hit immediately and persisted throughout the winter at around -20 to -25°C. Wheat was essentially iced over from the very beginning. The lack of snow and the formation of an ice crust became the direct cause of crop losses. This concerns winter peas, barley, and wheat. Imported varieties suffered the most,” he said.
According to Nazar Umrykhin, head of a department at the Institute of Agriculture, this winter’s weather was challenging for most winter crops. Some varieties could not withstand frosts of -23 to -26°C.
“There are varieties that were completely lost. In the first ten days of February, the region experienced sub-zero temperatures reaching -23 to -26°C. Among 117 domestic varieties sown at the test site, losses do not exceed 10% of crops. However, foreign varieties, unfortunately, did not all withstand such difficult overwintering conditions: some were completely lost, others by 40–50%,” he said.
