OREANDA-NEWS. September 15, 2009. Belarus had harvested 8.874 million tonnes of grain by September 7, down 4.4% on the year, from 2.262 million hectares, 98.2% of total planted areas.

The average yield of grain and legumes stands at 3.72 tonnes per hectare, down 4.4% on the year.

Sales of malt barlet amounted to 133,700 tonnes, down 8.5% on the year, 89.1% of the state-guaranteed order, which stands at 150,000 tonnes.

Winter crops have been sown on 262,100 hectares, 2% over last year’s level, or 18.1% of the total planted area.

Sugar beet harvest amounted to 178,600 tonnes, up 24% on the year, from 4,900 hectares, up 22.5%, with yield averaging 36.45 tonnes per hectare.

Potato harvest has so far reached 70,400 tonnes, up 53% on the year, from 3,500 hectares, up 66.7%, or 6.8% of the total planted area. Potato yield amounted to 20.11 tonnes per hectare, down 7.2%.