This year, the area dedicated to vegetables and melon crops in the Kherson region of Ukraine will be doubled, thanks to land demining and the partial restoration of irrigation systems on the right bank of the region.
According to Dmitry Yunusov, the head of the Department of Agriculture in the Kherson Regional State Administration, more than 80% of agricultural land has been demined, with about 100,000 hectares still potentially affected by mines. The priority tasks for the past year and this year have also included restoring irrigation, which has been reestablished on 3,000 hectares of land.
As a result, the total area for growing vegetables and melons will be nearly double this year, reaching 10,000 hectares. Among these, 1,500 hectares will be dedicated to watermelons and 400 hectares to melons.
However, all the produce will be sold on the domestic market, as Kherson is not expected to reach its export potential this year. Yunusov referenced the example of 2021 when, with the inclusion of the left bank, 22,500 hectares were sown with vegetables and melons. In 2021, yields exceeded 20 tons per hectare, with 270,000 tons of watermelons harvested, 5,500 tons of which were exported.
Achieving such results now is unrealistic, according to Yunusov. The target for this year is to reach an average yield of 10 tons per hectare of Kherson watermelons.
Yunusov also noted that the quality of the soil has been affected by not being used for agricultural purposes for two to three years. He emphasized that it would take at least five years for the land to fully regain its agricultural potential and produce high-quality crops like before the full-scale invasion.
He also stated that increasing watermelon production in Kherson is unlikely to reduce prices, and the price of melons will likely remain as high as it was last year.
Source: suspilne.media