According to the Moldovan seed market operators, the bulk of commercial planting material of rape has already been used. Moreover, some agricultural enterprises, in violation of agro-technological norms of rapeseed production based on hybrids of this crop, use part of the grown crop as seed rapeseed. That is, they practice the so-called “self-seeding”. As a result, compared to the indicator for the current year (about 100-105 thousand hectares) rape crops for the next year’s harvest increased by about 10-20%.
Sowing of winter rape began in August. In the south of the country some farmers have already habitually sown in dry soil. Agronomically effective precipitation in the southern zone was not until early October. As a result, at least half of the crops are weak. In the center and north of Moldova, the overwhelming share of fields was sown with winter rape in the middle and second half of September. As a result, many crops were not in the proper development phase before the October precipitation, according to experts of seed companies.
“It is possible that some farmers will try to sow rape after the cessation of precipitation, but I do not recommend it,” shares Igor Kopacinschi, representative of Bayer CropScience in Moldova. – The daylight hours are getting shorter, the second half of October, according to forecasts, will be cool and winter will be frosty. Consequently, there is a high probability that late crops will enter winter underdeveloped and will not survive the cold winter.
