The gross wheat production in Moldova decreased in 2017 by 10%, amounting to 1 million 160 thousand tons against 1 million 290 thousand tons a year earlier

The gross wheat production in Moldova decreased in 2017 by 10%, amounting to 1 million 160 thousand tons against 1 million 290 thousand tons a year earlier

12.12.2017

The decrease in the indicator was due to the reduction in acreage from 371 thousand hectares in 2016 to 301 thousand hectares in 2017, as the average wheat yield has increased over the period from 3.1 tons to 3.87 tons per hectare. Such information was presented to the InfoMarket agency by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Iurie Ususrelu. Harvest of barley in 2017 amounted to 248.2 thousand tons, down 2.9%, compared to 2016 (255.7 thousand tons). At the same time, the area under this crop decreased from 83.2 thousand to 73.3 thousand hectares, and the average yield increased from 3 tons to 3.4 tons per hectare. The yield of corn decreased by 9.6% over the year from 1 million 392 thousand tons in 2016 to 1 million 259 thousand tons. At the same time, its average yield increased from 2.99 tons to 4.5 tons per ha. The area decreased from 466 thousand to 282 thousand hectares. However, as noted in the Ministry of Agriculture, the data on maize yield in 2017 is not final, they will be further specified. The pea harvest increased 1.9 times from 26.6 thousand tons in 2016 to 51 thousand tons in 2017. The area under this crop increased from 9.3 thousand to 19 thousand hectares, the average yield was 2.67 tons per 1 ha against 2.84 tons per 1 ha a year earlier. The yield of soybeans increased by 36.3% over 1 year from 42.1 thousand tons to 57.4 thousand tons. The area under this crop decreased from 40 thousand to 36.4 thousand hectares, and the yield increased from 1.17 thousand to 1.6 thousand tons per hectare. The sunflower harvest increased by 12.3% over 1 year from 677 thousand tons in 2016 to 760 thousand tons in 2017. The areas occupied by sunflower increased from 361 thousand to 365 thousand hectares, and the average yield increased from 1.87 tons to 2.1 tons per ha. The gross production of rapeseed increased 1.7 times - from 43.2 thousand tons in 2016 to 74.2 thousand tons in 2017. The growth was due to the increase in the area under rapeseed from 18.2 thousand to 29.7 thousand hectares, while its average yield remained at the same level - 2.5 tons per hectare. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2016, from 0.6 thousand hectares occupied by tobacco, 0.9 thousand tons of dry tobacco leaf was received. At the same time, in 2017, from an area of 0.46 thousand hectares, 3.89 thousand tons of green leaf tobacco was obtained. Data on dry tobacco leaf is not yet available. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the gross production of sugar beet this year amounted to 681.5 thousand tons, increasing by 2.5%, compared to the previous year (665 thousand tons). The area under sugar beet increased from 20.4 thousand to 21.2 thousand hectares, and the average crop yield decreased from 32.6 tons to 32.1 tons per ha.