Russia's Main Grain-producing Region Has Warned Of A Drop In Yields To A Decade Low
- 4.07.2025, 18:38
Because of the drought.
The Rostov region, Russia's main grain-growing region, which accounted for almost 10% of the country's total grain harvest, is experiencing growing crop problems due to drought.
Last year, instead of the expected 16 million tons of grain, Rostov farmers harvested 11.4 million tons after the region was hit by several waves of returning frosts and then faced a rainfall deficit, The Moscow Times reports.
This year, the situation has worsened. The grain harvest could fall by another 20 percent, to the lowest in a decade, warned Yuri Slyusar, the region's acting governor. Earlier, he declared an emergency situation (ES) in 19 districts of the region due to the drought, which has also affected the north of neighboring Krasnodar Krai.
"There has never been such a drought before," Maxim Zolotarev, an agronomist at Luch LLC in the Chertkovsky district of the Rostov region, told Reuters. - Moisture reserves have always been much higher since winter, but this year there was a moisture deficit because the winter was snowy and the fall was without precipitation. In other words, we received the winter crops before the snow, in November or even in December the winter crops did not tiller.
In TV channels Rostov farmers share photos of sun-scorched wheat and sunflower fields, assessing the situation as "stalemate" and calling it a "tragedy".
Russian Ministry of Agriculture continues to radiate optimism: according to its forecast, the total grain harvest in the country this year will exceed last year's by 5 million tons and will amount to 135 million tons. Nevertheless, the agency admits that as of July 2, the harvest was 4.3 times lower than last year's - 3.8 million tons against 16.5 million tons. The yield dropped by almost a quarter - from 41 c/ha to 31 c/ha. Collections in the Southern Federal District fell 5.7 times - to 2 million tons, in the North Caucasus - three times, to 1.5 million tons.
The Rostov region's harvest forecast has been lowered, as a result it may lose the lead in wheat harvest to neighboring Stavropol, where weather conditions this year are much more favorable, analysts of ICAR wrote.
Export duties on grain, which the authorities introduced several years ago to fill the budget, add to the headaches of agrarians, who have already been hit by bad weather.
"This duty hits very hard and affects the profitability, the profitability of enterprises. From each kilogram of grain, roughly speaking, two or three thousand (rubles) are spent on it," complained the head of the Chertkovsky district's agriculture and environmental protection department, Alexei Shantaly (he was quoted by Reuters).
Plakhov of Luch LLC said farmers are forced to save as much as possible because of rising prices - for fertilizers, plant protection products and farm machinery. "We try to make the minimum costs of cultivation in order to get the maximum profit, or at least to work at zero, so as not to lead the organization to bankruptcy," he said.