We have no profit, we are only trying to reduce losses, said Ludmil Rabotov
Grain producers from the Plovdiv region report an absolutely crisis year. After the lows yields of wheat, the hot and dry summer shriveled the pies of the sunflower and drastically reduced the opportunities for a good crop of both sunflowers and corn for grain.
“Most colleagues have already harvested the sunflowers, and the average yields in the district vary from 50 to 150 kg/ha,” announced the chairman of the Union of Grain Producers from Plovdiv Ludmil Rabotov. “For comparison, in favorable years the oilseed plant yields 300-350 kg.”
A reason for the failed opportunities for a good corn crop is the reduced supply of irrigation water. “Instead of doing three waterings in this extremely hot summer, the colleagues did one each. They didn’t get any more water. Therefore, grain corn was massively harvested early and sold, where possible, for silage. Thus, with expenses of 200 BGN, they received revenues of 70 to 100 BGN. We can’t talk about profit at all, but only about reducing losses,” the chairman summarized.
He added that the sunflower has very small seeds, and since the pods are small, the harvester cannot separate them well and parts of them end up with the seed. And that opens up additional work. That is, when it’s bad, it can always get worse.
Lyudmil Rabotov suggests that the effect of climate disasters can be reduced if the problem of the missing pumps of the “Pyaschanik” dam is solved More than 10 years ago, two pumps lifted the water flowing from the energy dams to the basin of “Pyaschanik” during the winter-spring season ” and thus irrigation water was provided for agriculture during the active year.
Now the pumps are missing, and “Irrigation Systems” EAD have ordered a technical assignment for the construction of a photovoltaic facility, with the energy of which the future pumps – one or two – will work.
“If it is possible to move to the implementation as quickly as in the case of force majeure and by next year we already have a pump. This will give us stability and the desire to invest in irrigation systems, knowing that the water in the canals is secured,” said Ludmil Rabotov.
#yield #sunflower #Plovdiv #corn #grain #harvested #silage
