Ministry: Russia to raise wheat harvest to 64 mln tns in 2016

BARNAUL, Jul 14 (PRIME) -- Russia plans to raise wheat harvest by 2.2 million tonnes to 64 million tonnes in 2016, Pyotr Chekmarev, a department director at the Agriculture Ministry, said at a conference Thursday.

“As far as wheat is concerned, the harvest is planned at 64 million tones. This is based on forecasts of each region,” he said.

Farmers also plan to harvest 17 million tonnes of barley, 2.5 tonnes of rye, and 1 million tonnes of buckwheat, Chekmarev said.

The Agriculture Ministry said earlier it planned to increase grain harvest to 111.5 million tonnes in 2017, 113 million tonnes in 2018, and 116 million tonnes in 2019.

In 2016, grain harvest is expected at 106 million tonnes and can reach 110 million tonnes in case of favorable weather conditions.

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