Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.3
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
The grain harvesting campaign is coming to an end in Kazakhstan, and Kostanay is among the country’s leading regions in grain reaping.
To date, the region has harvested 4.4 million tons of grain and threshed about 3.8 million tons, Kazinform reported.
Farmers intend to complete the harvesting campaign by the end of the week or the beginning of the next week.
This year, the Kostanay farmers began harvesting later than planned. Weather conditions of the current season have been very difficult. The average yield this year is slightly less than last year – 11.3 centners per hectare.
In 2018, as much as 89 percent of the grain area was sown with certified seeds of higher fertility, 93 percent of which are seeds of class 1 and 2. More than 9,600 combines, including 3,000 of high performance, and 23,000 tractors are taking part in harvesting this year, as well as 3,000 swathers, about 8,000 trucks, 19,000 tractor trailers and other machinery.
This year it is planned to harvest 5 million tons of grain in Kostanay region, which is by 200 million tons less than in 2017.
It is noteworthy that in its August report, the International Grains Council (IGC) raised the forecast for grain production in Kazakhstan in 2018-19 marketing year to 18.6 million tons. In 2017-18 MY the harvest amounted to 19.3 million tons, and a year earlier, local farmers collected 19.4 million tons from the fields.
The volume of grain supply in Kazakhstan in the forecast period will drop to 22 million tons compared to 2017-18 MY (23 million tons).
Export supplies of grain in 2018-19 MY, according to the IGC report, will decrease by 0.5 million tons compared to last year to 9.2 million tons.