Ministry of Agriculture plans to seed 1 mln hectares of spring crops

946 hectares of spring cultures are to be seeded in the spring of 2007, stated the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Anatol Gorodenco, on February 16, within the plenary session of the Parliament. According to the official, of these, half a million hectares are represented by spring crops; industrial crops will cover 300,000 ha; vegetables and fodder plants – 110,000 hectares. According to the minister, at the moment, the supply with seeds has been provided at a 97% rate; with fuel - 70%. The quoted source also stated that the autumn ploughing has been operated at a 95% level, compared to 89% in the autumn of 2005. 375,000 ha of autumn crops have been seeded in the autumn of 2006, which is by 225 more than in the previous year. Despite “the climacteric anomalies”, 90% from the surfaces seeded with these crops are in an acceptable state, the minister of agriculture stated. Temperatures of minus 10 to 12 degrees Celsius could affect the plantations in a certain measure, but the situation is not so disastrous, so that a harvest of about 420,000 tons is expected, Gorodenco concluded.