Tatarstan has harvested 79% of grain crops.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Zyabbarov reported on the progress of the harvest campaign, the operation of grain drying complexes, and forage procurement at a national meeting held in the Government House of the Republic of Tatarstan. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Alexey Pesoshin.
The minister noted that despite the precipitation, harvesting continues. To date, 971,000 hectares, or 79% of the area, have been threshed. A total of 3,827,000 tons of grain have been harvested, with an average yield of 39.4 centners per hectare.
Of the oilseed crops, spring rapeseed is being harvested. Of the 158,000 hectares, 55,000 hectares have been threshed, including 16,000 hectares of winter rapeseed, the harvest of which is complete. Potato and sugar beet harvesting is also underway. "According to weather forecasters, next week is expected to be mostly dry. Colleagues, please take advantage of this window and make every effort to harvest grain and oilseed crops from the fields," the Minister of Agriculture and Food addressed the meeting participants.
Over 90% of the harvested area has been threshed in eight districts: Aksubaevsky, Kaibitsky, Mamadyshsky, Alkeyevsky, Sabinsky, Chistopolsky, Buinsky, and Drozhzhanovsky. More than 10,000 hectares of grain remain to be threshed in Aznakaevsky (15,700 hectares), Zainsky (11,600 hectares), Sarmanovsky (11,400 hectares), Pestrechinsky (10,800 hectares), and Apastovsky districts(10,500 hectares).
The main challenge of the current harvesting campaign is the high grain moisture content – 18-20% or more. This significantly increases the workload on harvesting equipment, grain storage facilities, and grain drying equipment. The farms operate 408 grain drying complexes with a daily capacity of 210,000 tons. However, when loading grain with high moisture content, their productivity is significantly reduced due to the need to process the grain several times. "Weather conditions during this year's harvest once again demonstrate the need to modernize grain dryers. It will allow farms to reduce crop losses by 15-20% by preserving the grain," emphasized Marat Zyabbarov.
Sugar beet harvesting is underway in six out of ten districts. To date, 4,500 hectares (8% of the total area) have been harvested. Over 200,000 tons have been harvested, with a yield of 445 centners per hectare. Both sugar refineries have begun harvesting and processing the beets. A total of 89,000 tons have been harvested, and 52,000 tons of raw material have been processed. Sugar production from the new harvest is over 5,000 tons. The average sugar content of root crops is approximately 15%.
Winter crop sowing continues in parallel with the harvest. 280,000 hectares (56%) of the planned 500,000 hectares have been sown.
Regarding forage procurement, the minister noted that agricultural enterprises have harvested 441,000 tons of hay (135% of the plan) and 2,938,000 tons of silage (90% of the requirement). This represents 23.2 centners of feed units per head of cattle. Last year, this figure was 20.7 centners of feed units.
Hay harvesting on private farms has been completed. 523,000 tons of hay have been harvested, or 115% of the requirement. Taking into account the carryover, the supply sufficiency is 130%. Silage harvesting has begun in 19 districts. To date, 91,000 tons have been harvested.