The global flood that hit the grain-growing regions of Kazakhstan this year is causing concern among farmers. Many people express the opinion that the fields will be soaked, which will deprive them of the opportunity to sow. There are also concerns about the washing away of the fertile soil layer. The Union of Field Growers collected comments from farmers about the consequences of the flood. The work was carried out almost throughout Kazakhstan. The majority of farmers said they are not worried about a decrease in yields this year, reports the APK News agency.
“Cases of flooding of production areas and grain warehouses have been recorded. There are cases where seed material was damaged. There are not many of them, but they exist. But the more significant point at this time is that the entire infrastructure is paralyzed, farmers cannot fully prepare for the sowing season,” Chairman of the Union of Field Growers of Kazakhstan Viktor Aslanov said on his Instagram page.
Where the flood was larger, farmers fear that the fertile layer will be washed away and soil will be eroded by water. This opinion was expressed by about 20% of respondents. 80% of farmers assess the situation as non-critical. About 20% of respondents believe that such an abundance of moisture will be beneficial.
“At this time there are no concerns about a decrease in yield. There are no concerns about the shift in sowing dates. There's still a whole month ahead. The water doesn't stand still, it goes away. We hope that she will leave,” said the head of the Union.
“We again find ourselves alone with our land, nature. Lack of competent opinion. After all, look, there was drought for three years in a row, and now there is waterlogging. How has the chemical and mechanical composition of the soil changed? The speech of some scientist is missing,” V. Aslanov also said.
Meanwhile, he believes, the flood would have been smaller and would have caused less damage if we had irrigation systems. Now we understand that we practically do not have them in our agriculture.
As agricultural expert Kirill Pavlov previously reported, the most important problem in floods for agriculture is the erosion of the fertile soil layer. And one more significant thing - along with water come diseases, not only veterinary infections, but also phytopathologies.
As meteorologists reported, in most parts of Kazakhstan there is satisfactory soil moisture. This provides good preconditions for the future harvest of spring crops.