Specialists forecast good harvest of cereals in Moldova in 2019

Chisinau, 25 June /MOLDPRES/ - The harvesting of first group cereals is just at the beginning and the forecasts for the 2019 harvest are good, as a pretty good harvest is expected, sources of the Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ministry (MADRM) have told MOLDPRES.    

“Preliminary forecasts show an overall harvest of wheat – the country’s main food resource – of more than one million tons. Practically, we have the same situation as in the last five years. Certainly, the heavy rains and hail from the beginning of the summer hit some farmlands; yet, it is about isolated cases, which will not affect the general state of things,” a chief consultant at the MADRM directorate for production policies, processing and regulation of the vegetal origin products’ quality, Marin Grama, said.  

At the same time, Grama urged farmers to take into account certain recommendations, in order to ensure a good carrying out of the harvesting campaign, reduce losses and avoid the risk of appearance of fires.   

Thus, taking into account the fact that the cereals’ harvesting is made in a period of heat, farmers and local authorities are recommended to enhance the actions of guard and tightening the harvest’s anti-fire security, as well as to isolate the fields due to be harvested through the creation of tilled belts nearby roads, green areas, bridges and railways.

„Also, specialists recommend, in the harvesting campaign, to use combines, lorries and tractors endowed with systems of venting of hot gases, spark chamber installations and first intervention means. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure a rigorous control of all buildings meant for depositing and preservation of cereals and fodders. There are norms, the observance of which will bring only value added to the harvesting campaign,” Marin Grama noted.  

Rescuers also warn farmers to observe the security rules in fields – not to smoke and not to light stakes on fields, stubble fields, nearby combines or transport means.   

The harvesting of the first group cereals (barley, wheat, rape, peas), as a rule, starts  in June and ends in July. In 2018, the heavy rainfall triggered the extension of the campaign of cereals’ harvesting.  This year, farmers from the Autonomous Territorial Unit Gagauz-Yeri were the first ones to begin the harvesting (17 June).