Russia plans no changes to harvest forecast over dam destruction

MOSCOW, Jun 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian Agriculture Ministry has no plans to revise the grain harvest forecast for the current agricultural year that started on July 1, 2023 and will end on June 30, 2024 because of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, a ministry spokesperson told PRIME late on Tuesday.

The upper part of the Kakhovka hydropower plant was destroyed early on Tuesday causing an unregulated release of water. Several localities close to the dam are being evacuated.

“The grains, including wheat meant for the 2023 harvest were sown on the rain-fed lands. This is why no revision of the harvest forecast is planned,” the ministry spokesperson said.

The Kherson and Zaporozhye regions planned to sow potatoes and other vegetables on the irrigated lands this year with water for irrigation coming from the Kakhovka Reservoir.

“The water is being pumped to the irrigation channels currently, but when the reservoir’s water level falls below a certain threshold, pumping of water to the channels will be suspended partially or stopped completely. Thus, we will be able to evaluate the damage for the agriculture sector of the regions only after the water in the reservoir has stabilized at a certain level,” the spokesperson said.

In 2022, Russia’s gross grain harvest set a new historic record by gaining 29.9% on the year to 157.676 million tonnes. The ministry expects the grain harvest to amount to 123 million tonnes in 2023 including 78 million tonnes of wheat.

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