| Don authorities persuade peasants to reduce sunflower crops The authorities of the Rostov region, having not yet completed the harvest of the current harvest, began to actively agitate the local peasantry to reduce sunflower crops and sow more winter wheat. The provincial authorities are even going to allocate 1 million rubles to hold special seminars with Don farmers, where, among other things, the business advantages of winter wheat over sunflower will be discussed in detail.
And the whole point is that now in the Rostov region there is an overproduction of sunflower. This year, approximately a fifth of the regional arable land was allocated for it. This is a lot, considering that sunflower greatly depletes the soil and it is recommended to renew its crops in specific fields no earlier than after 8-10 years. Naturally, in conditions when sunflower occupies a fifth of Don farmland, this recommendation can only be implemented with a significant reduction in its crop area.
In addition, the craze for growing sunflowers has led to the market being overstocked. And then the European Commission - as a response to the ban on the import of eggs from EU countries into Russia, introduced back in 1996 - is considering the possibility of establishing a 7 percent import duty on Russian sunflower and rapeseed seeds. Meanwhile, until recently, the Rostov region sent a significant part of sunflower seeds for export. In general, from the overgrown sunflower crops one can expect not only problems with crop rotation, but also losses for the Don village.
Therefore, the provincial authorities, from the chairman of the Don government to the ordinary clerk of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food, began at various meetings to convince local farmers that they should sow as little sunflower as possible, and as much winter wheat as possible.
According to officials of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the climatic features of the Rostov region are such that, if agrotechnical standards are observed, the average yield of winter crops per hectare, even in bad years, is about 20-30 centners, and sunflower - only 8.5. At the same time, today the price of a kilogram of wheat and sunflower seeds is approximately the same. According to calculations of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food, it is winter wheat that currently provides the greatest profitability in Don crop production. Next come potatoes and sugar beets. And only then - sunflower. Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don |
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