Most Ukrainian winter grain crops are in good or satisfactory condition, giving farmers grounds to expect a substantial harvest in 2013, weather forecasters said on Monday. "The condition of winter grain crops is much better than last year and farmers have good prospects to harvest a substantial crop," said Anatoly Prokopenko, deputy head of Ukraine's state weather forecasting centre.
Only the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk has some crops in a poor state, he said. Ukrainian farms sowed a total of 8.4 million hectares of winter grains, mostly winter wheat last year, but seeds on 1.2 million hectares did not sprout due to a severe drought from July to November.
According to the data, provided by the Agriculture Ministry, 93 percent of the sown winter grain crops are sprouted as of November 23 and 92 percent of them are in good and satisfactory state. Farms sowed a total of 8.07 million hectares of mostly winter wheat for the 2013 harvest. Ukraine plans to harvest 45 to 46 million tonnes of grain, including 15 million tonnes of wheat, in 2012. The former Soviet republic harvested a record 56.7 million tonnes of grain in 2011.
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