According to the forecast of the deputy head of the Main Department of Agriculture and Food of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Petro Kovalchuk, the grain yield in Volyn in 2004 is expected to be at the level of 650-670 thousand tons.
Prerequisites for a better harvest next year are favorable weather conditions and compliance with all technological processes of sowing winter crops. Thus, 186 thousand hectares of winter wheat have already been sown in agricultural formations of the region, and another 16 thousand hectares are planned to be sown with spring crops by these agricultural formations in the spring. The average grain yield of the region for 2004 is forecast at the level of 25.3-25.5 c/ha. Given the good weather conditions, improvement of the financial condition of farms, favorable prices on the grain market and an increase in the area of winter crop sowings by 17.8 thousand hectares, the 2004 harvest is forecast at the level of 650-670 thousand tons.
Reference: in 2003, 600 thousand tons of grain were harvested in Volyn, which is 14 percent less than the 2002 level (678 thousand tons). The sown areas amounted to 249 thousand hectares. The average grain yield in the region in all categories of farms was 24 c/ha.