KYIV- Ukraine’s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday that farmers had sown a total of 1.16 million hectares of winter crops as of September 12.
The area included 44,800 hectares of winter grains, or 0.9 percent of the expected area of around 5 million hectares, the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine is a traditional grower of winter wheat which accounts for at least 95 percent of its overall wheat output. The ministry has said the area sown for winter wheat could total 4.3 million hectares this season.
The ministry also said farmers could sow 683,900 hectares of winter barley and 1.19 million hectares of winter rapeseed.
Producers have sown 1,200 hectares of winter barley and 654,900 hectares of winter rapeseed so far.
Ukraine is a major grain producer but the collapse in July of an agreement which had allowed safe grain exports via its Black Sea ports has led to speculation that farmers might sow less wheat because of shrinking profit margins due to costlier export routes.
Meanwhile, Britain on Monday accused Russia of targeting a civilian cargo ship at port in the Black Sea on Aug. 24 in a previously unconfirmed missile attack it said was successfully thwarted by Ukrainian defenses.
Ukraine has been making efforts to allow vessels stranded in Odesa port since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to sail into open waters after the collapse of the UN-backed Black Sea grains corridor.
The remarks, made in Britain’s parliament by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, are the first time an official has commented on a ship being targeted since those Ukrainian efforts began.
Since Aug. 18, four cargo ships have sailed from Odesa.
“Thanks to declassified intelligence, we know the Russian military targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles on the 24th of August,” Sunak said in an update to parliament on the G20 summit he attended in New Delhi. -Reuters
