Russia’s agricultural sector largely unscathed by floods, minister says

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The work of Russian agricultural companies has not been significantly disrupted by heavy flooding in several regions, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said on Tuesday, easing fears about possible crop destruction.

The area of spring sowing is approaching 5 million hectares, a slightly higher pace than last year, the minister added.

Russia expects to record its second largest harvest in 2024, after a record 147 million metric tons of grain in 2023.

The area for this year’s harvest will increase by 300,000 hectares to 84.5 million hectares, Patrushev said in January. Winter crops have been sown on 20 million hectares.

Swathes of northern Kazakhstan and Russia’s Urals region are dealing with the worst floods in living memory as melt waters have swelled the tributaries of the world’s seventh longest river system, forcing more than 125,000 people to flee their homes.

The agriculture ministry said emergency regimes have been declared in the Orenburg, Altai, Kurgan and Tyumen regions. The Volga river’s Samara region is also at risk of wide-scale floods, it said.

According to industry experts, the real damage can only be assessed once the waters have subsided.