Kazakh farmers must turn attention to sunflower growing practices

Kazakh scientists at the Research and Production Center for Grain Farming believe that sunflower plantings in Kazakhstan will not expand significantly and the primary goal of growers will be improving cultivation practices in order to increase yield. This conclusion is based on analysis of a few crops, including oilseeds, Kazakh-Zerno news agency reports.

In the opinion of growers, sunflower is the main oil crop in Kazakhstan. The total oilseed crop follows a steady upward trend not only due to expanding acreage, but also because of higher yields.

When cultivated under simplified growing practices, sunflower yielded 0.36 MT/ha. A more technologically intensive approach raised its yield to 0.59 MT/ha, even to 0.64 MT/ha in 2009-2016. Single farms even harvest at least 1.0 MT/ha. However, the simplified cultivation system does prevail: just seeding and harvesting, i.e. there is big hidden potential for yield growth.

In the opinion of the scientists, production of 1 MMT can be achieved in the near term without expanding the sunflower planted area.