Ukraine spring planting starts in 21 regions, covers 603,000 ha so far

Spring planting was underway in 21 regions under Ukraine’s control, covering a total of 603,000 hectares as of April 1, the Ukraine agriculture ministry said Friday.

This amounts to just under 4.5% of the projected total area for main spring crops, which the ministry estimates at 13.4 million hectares, 3.5 million hectares less than last year.

The planting included 81,000 hectares of spring wheat, 327,300 hectares of spring barley, 7,600 hectares of spring rapeseed, 50,100 hectares of oats, 62,300 hectares of peas, 30,600 thousand hectares of sugar beet, 33,700 thousand hectares of sunflowers, and 10,400 thousand hectares of soybeans.

According to information provided by Ukraine's regions, the ministry said the sowing of winter crops for the harvest of 2022 covered an area of ​​7.7 million hectares, including 6.5 million hectares of winter wheat, 159,000 hectares of rye and 1 million hectares of barley.

Ukraine has close to 30 million hectares of agricultural land, but many areas cannot currently be used because they are occupied by Russian forces or because of active fighting in the area.

As a result, the ministry lowered its forecast for the total area that will be planted with spring crops by 20% earlier this week.

How much will actually be harvested is still uncertain, with the Russian invasion still ongoing.

In addition, the ministry has already said the focus this year will be on simpler, easier to grow crops rather than high-margin crops for export.