Source: Ukragroconsult (Ukraine)
Grain producers in Bulgaria are expecting a poor harvest this year, probably the worst in a decade. The reason for this is the disastrous climatic conditions – very high temperatures and a lack of rainfall.
Farmers are considering whether to harvest the spring crops, as the campaign will incur additional costs.
Zvezdelin Surev cultivates 2,000 hectares of land in the areas of Zlatarica and the village of Rodina. This year, he planted 550 hectares of sunflowers and 700 hectares of maize. Due to the long drought, he expects a very weak and poor-quality harvest.
“The sunflowers suffer from the heat – the lower leaves start to dry out and then it’s over. The warm wind blowing over the plants helps them to wither even faster. The seeds can’t fill up, they fill up and they stay! And they will! The yield will be very small, up to 100 kilos,” he comments.
It turns out that it is not only on the pre-Balkan peninsula in the Zlatarica region that the scorching drought is halting the development of maize and sunflowers.
“It hasn’t rained for more than a month, the situation is deplorable, the maize has completely disappeared. Due to the heat, it is starting to vomit and there is no ear. Small, tiny grains come out of the cob. We see pictures everywhere in forums and colleagues everywhere are complaining – both in northern Bulgaria and in southern Bulgaria… The sunflower has just filled the flat cobs, the seed remains empty, the leaves are burning… Things are moving on. In many places in the country, I see very few places where good quality and a good yield can be expected,” comments Pencho Chanev, who owns an agricultural company in Zlataritsa.
Grain producers have already spent a considerable amount of money on this year’s harvest. Apart from the expected low yields, they are also under pressure from low purchase prices. Sunflowers are being traded at 66 cents “on the green field”.
“We have to plough, thresh, sow, fertilize before sowing, fertilize after sowing, spray herbicides, spray foliar fertilizers and so on. And the products we produce are too cheap, and in the second or third year we go backwards! If you calculate under a hundred kilograms per hectare, and if you calculate realistically, it may not be desirable to harvest because the harvest entails additional costs,” says Zvezdelin Surev.
“On the other hand, the costs are many times higher than the income, and I’m not sure we can count on that… We live almost entirely on loans, and as things stand, the banks are expected to be among the biggest agricultural producers in the next year or two,” comments Pencho Chanev.
Farmers say that the climate in our country has been constantly changing and drying out in recent years. And there hasn’t been a heatwave as long as this summer for 40 years.