Ukrainian farmers set record for buckwheat production

Ukrainian farmers have expanded their croplands for buckwheat to a record 141,500 hectares for all years of independence, which is 14.2% more than a year earlier and 34.7% more than in the pre-crisis year 2021, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said, Azernews reports, citing Interfax.

"Ukrainian farmers are yielding a record buckwheat harvest this year. This was possible due to the record sowing area for this crop compared to previous years and high yields. As of the first week of October, farmers have already threshed 173,800 tonnes of buckwheat and this is not the end of the harvest. About 148,000 tonnes were harvested last year," Vysotsky was quoted by the Ukrainian media as saying in a statement issued by the ministry's press service.

The farmers expanded buckwheat sowing area in spring this year by 20,000 hectares year-on-year up to 141,500 hectares, he said.

"We have already collected a harvest from 86% of the acreage compared to 49% on the same date last year. As for the yield, there are also good results: the current figure is 1.42 tonnes/ha, last year it was 1.22 tonnes/ha from about the same share of acreage. In fact, these factors combined allowed us to harvest a record buckwheat crop," Vysotsky said.

This will contribute to the drop in final prices for groats, but the factor of expensive processing, logistics and packaging should not be ignored, he added.

The Agrarian Policy Ministry said that the Vinnitsa (23,400 tonnes) and Khmelnitsky (22,500 tonnes) regions are leading in the threshing of buckwheat. The Sumy (15,370 tonnes) and Vinnitsa (12,200 tonnes) regions were among the record-breakers in buckwheat production last year for the same period.

In 2021, 91,900 hectares of buckwheat were sown. Then over 105,000 tonnes were harvested, this figure was considered a record, the ministry said.