Slovakia: Higher Yields for the Most Grains
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In Slovakia, field crops were sown on 1,348,000 ha in 2020, a decrease of 0.2% (2,900 ha) compared to the previous year. The share of sown area in utilized agricultural land in the Slovak Republic increased by 0.1 p.p. to 70.5%. The cultivation acreage of Grains decreased on a year-on-year basis by 1.3 % to 773,200 ha, of which cereals were sown on an acreage of 761,300 ha, which, on a year-on-year basis, was 1.6% less (11,500 ha). There was a decrease in the cultivation area of Wheat by 4.2% (17,300 ha) to 390,900 ha, and, on the other hand, the acreage of Corn increased by 4.7% (6,000 ha) to 132,900 ha. The acreage of oil plants increased by 3.7% (9.7 ha) to 269,500 ha.
The decisive crop in Slovakia is winter Wheat, grown on an area of approximately 350 – 660 thousand ha, representing 26% of arable land. The second crop is spring Barley, with an average area of 200 thousand ha (14% of arable land). The third important crop, with area of about 140 thousand ha (10.2%), is Corn. Thus, Grains, including Corn, represent the group of crops most cultivated in Slovakia, with an average area of 780,000 ha, which is 58% of arable land. Due to the enormous increase in the growing regions of oilseed rape in the 1990s, oil crops became the second important group of market crops, with an area of 200 thousand ha (14%). Of that, the oilseed rape is grown on an area of 100 thousand ha (7% of arable land). Among other oil crops, Soybean planting areas developed to approximately 10 thousand ha (0.7 % of arable land), and planting is localized mainly in Východoslovenská nížina (East Slovakian Lowland).
The food consumption of Wheat in the financial year 2021-2022 reached an estimated 403,000 tons, representing 20,400 tons, i.e., 5.3 percent more than in the previous economic year. The results of the harvest in 2021, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Slovak Republic, satisfied the Slovak cereal producers, as dense cereals reached a yield of 5.48 tons per hectare, which is an above-average result for Slovakia.
For all monitored dense cereals – Wheat, Barley, rye, oats, and triticale, hectare yields above the 5-year average value were projected. According to the situational and outlook report data, the average Wheat harvest per hectare in the 2021-2022 season was estimated at 5.70 tons, which is 0.19 tons or 3.4 percent more than in the last economic year. Last year, Slovakia was forecast to produce 2.9 million tons of dense cereals, which will be 9% more production than the previous year. The expected Barley harvest of almost 666,000 tons was 11% higher year-on-year. This fact supported higher sown area and higher yields at 5.01 tons per hectare.
Wheat stocks for 2022 were estimated at 165,300 tons. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, cereal production was sufficient, and Slovakia is 150 percent self-sufficient.
Minor High-Density Grains in Slovakia
A higher year-on-year yield is also expected for other high-density cereals – rye, oats, and triticale, mainly due to higher yields per hectare. In the Slovak Republic, 49,200 tons of rye, 37,200 tons of oats, and 39,600 tons of triticale harvested in 2020. At the same time, farmers were also expecting a higher yield for Corn. Its total production is estimated at 1.5 million tons, i.e., 3.2% more than in 2019 (an increase of 46,600 tons). In total, Slovakia produced approximately 440,000 tons of rapeseed. For sunflowers, the expected harvest was worth almost 151,000 tons, and for Soybeans was 133,000 tons.
Other sources: MPSR
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