Over the past four years, the area sown with sugar beet seeds in the country has increased 4 times

CrimeaPRESS reports:

Since 2020, the area sown with sugar beet seeds in the republic has increased 4 times.

We continue to fulfill the federal task of import substitution of sugar beet seeds. Every year, the area under sowing of this crop in the republic is growing. So, if in 2020 our farmers sowed 98.5 hectares, then in all subsequent years the area increased by an average of one hundred hectares. In 2021, it was already 165 hectares, in 2022 — 210 hectares, this year — 440 hectares. The plans for next year are to sow the area approximately the same as in 2023. One of the enterprises that is engaged in the cultivation of seeds of a strategic plant is First Crimean Agrarian Company LLC. More than 10 years ago it was founded by Mikhail Dzhorkashvili. It was under the leadership of Mikhail Nikolayevich that the First Crimean Agrarian Company LLC gradually turned from a small farm into a powerful agricultural enterprise, which also cultivates grain and potatoes. At the enterprise, seed plants on 74 hectares are grown in two ways: transplanted and direct. Last year, two hybrids were sown: «Breeze» and «Rock»— the press service of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Crimea Andrei Savchuk quotes.

Andrey Savchuk also said that the company uses a two-phase growing system for the transplantation method. In the fall of 2022, they began to use this method for the first time after a long break.

That is, the seeds are sown in the second decade of August for steckling — these are small root crops. When 3-4 pairs of leaves appear on the plants, small plants are dug up and sent to wait out the winter in the refrigerator. There, the testicles are stored for several months at a temperature of approximately +2 degrees. In the spring they go to land in the field. Unlike direct, where almost all processes are mechanized, this technology requires a large amount of manual labor. Cultivation is currently being carried out on a 20-hectare field, and other field work will follow.says the minister.

Andrey Savchuk also said that sugar beet seedlings grow on 54 hectares nearby, sown in a direct way, which the company uses all the time. Plants are in good condition. A few days ago we finished the first cultivation of the soil and the necessary top dressing with ammonium nitrate. We plan to start the next field work. Last year, First Crimean Agrarian Company LLC collected about 120 tons of seeds of this root crop from the fields.

Recall that 6 farms are engaged in cultivation in Crimea this year: First Crimean Agrarian Company LLC, Gossortkomisiya FSBI, Oktyabrskoye LLC, Nadezhda LLC, Agromax LLC and Dneprovsky LLC. Almost everyone has already cultivated and applied the necessary fertilizers. Now they are preparing for the next field work.