Belarus has harvested potatoes from 43% of the planned area. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food reported the figure on 25 September. The state news agency BelTA published the data.
Growers have dug 317,000 tonnes so far. The average yield is 338 centners per hectare, or 33.8 tonnes per hectare.
Four days of progress
On 21 September, the ministry reported 36% of the area harvested. At that time, the volume stood at 272,000 tonnes. The average yield was 34.4 tonnes per hectare.
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In four days, the harvest added 7 percentage points of area and 45,000 tonnes of potatoes. The average yield slipped by 0.6 tonnes per hectare.
Mogilev region leads with 86,000 tonnes. The other regions reported these volumes on 25 September:
- Minsk region: 77,000 tonnes
- Brest region: 66,000 tonnes
- Gomel region: 35,000 tonnes
- Grodno region: 31,000 tonnes
- Vitebsk region: 22,000 tonnes
Vitebsk region is the smallest contributor so far. It added only 2,000 tonnes between the two reports. Minsk and Brest regions each added 10,000 tonnes or more.
Other root crops
The same report covers sugar beet and vegetables. Sugar beet has been lifted from 37,000 hectares, or 34% of plan. The beet yield averages 45.1 tonnes per hectare. Vegetable growers have collected 59,000 tonnes at 33.5 tonnes per hectare.
The figures are operational data from the ministry. They can change as regions report late fields. The ministry did not publish the total planned potato area or a forecast for the final crop.
Why it matters
More than half of the planned potato area was still in the ground in the last week of September. The pace in the coming weeks will decide how much crop reaches storage before frosts.
The yield dip is small so far. Buyers and processors will watch whether the national average stays above 33 tonnes per hectare as the harvest moves to later fields.
Photo: Potato harvest, a painting by Walter Moras (illustrative). Walter Moras / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
