According to instrumental measurements of productive soil moisture reserves, soil desiccation was observed in the arable soil layer in Kazakhstan in the second ten-day period of August. This was reported by Kazhydromet in its ten-day review.
In the northern grain-growing regions (Kostanay, Akmola, North Kazakhstan, and Pavlodar regions), productive moisture reserves in the 0.5- and 1-meter soil layers remained satisfactory and optimal in most observation sites.
In the west, productive moisture reserves (PMS) are uneven. In the West Kazakhstan region, soil moisture reserves in the 0.5- and 1-meter layers improved, while insufficient moisture reserves were observed in these layers in the Aktobe region.
In the central and eastern regions of the country, insufficient productive moisture reserves were predominantly observed in the arable and 0.5-meter layers. In the south and southeast (at half-meter and one-meter depths), thanks to field irrigation, moisture reserves remain satisfactory and optimal.
For more information on the state of agricultural crops by region in Kazakhstan, see the ten-day review.