Russia expands rice-field territories

Dzhambulat Hatuov, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia, held a meeting on the development of rice growing.

High requirements for heat and moisture allow the Southern, North Caucasian and Far Eastern federal districts to cultivate rice on their limited territories. Over the past 20 years, Russia has doubled the production of this crop. The gross harvest is stable and does not fall below a million tons.

Dzhambulat Hatuov noted that this year, the sown area for rice in Russia increased to 197.4 thousand hectares. Therefore, they expect the gross harvest to be 1.1 million tons with a yield of 56 centners per hectare. As of June 19, 2020, the sowing works completed on 193 thousand hectares or 97.9% of the predicted area.

Dzhambulat Hatuov emphasized that state support measures contribute to the development of rice growing. At the same time, there are certain risks in some regions. Particularly, if the Kuban continues reducing water volume supplied for ameliorative purposes, the region may lose part of the rice yield.

The Southern Federal District has introduced measures to save water resources. Despite the water shortage in the lower reaches of the Kuban River, the region fully satisfied all the applications of agriculture producers for water supply, and the second pouring of the rice will be implemented as well. However, there is still a concern about maintaining a constant water layer in rice fields, considering current climatic conditions and elevated temperatures.