Bulgaria's wheat and barley crops are likely to be lower than a year ago after dry weather in autumn and cold snaps in the winter hit sowings, a senior agriculture official said on Friday. The Balkan country reaped 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in 2011 and 670,000 tonnes of barley, a huge part of which was exported, mainly to Spain.
"With weather conditions improving and extensive fertilising, we expect a good crop. But it will be lower than a year ago," Emil Milanov, head of grains department at the agriculture ministry told Reuters. He declined to give a precise forecast, saying a full survey of the fields in May would allow the ministry to estimate the barley and wheat crops.
Farmers however already forecast a 20 percent drop in the wheat harvest to about 3.4 million tonnes this year and a 30 percent drop in barley crop to 470,000 tonnes due to delayed planting and to "winter kill" damage to plantings. "The situation is hard. The fields are in worse condition than last year," said Angel Vukadinov, chairman of the National Association of Grain Producers. "Half of the rapeseed sowings are damaged by the extremely low temperatures in February, and the wheat and barley sowings have also taken a blow," he said.
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