June 7 2004, 11:35 APK-Inform

AP Ministry concerned with large amount of pests weeds and diseases, affecting fields

At the radio conference with agricultural officials the Agrarian Policy Minister Viktor Slauta said that all the fields in Ukraine, not treated with plant protection chemicals, were causing concern and required active protective measures to reduce the amounts of pests, weeds and diseases they were affected by, the ministry's press-service has informed.

The ministry's specialists attribute the phenomenon to the large amount of rainfall in recent days.

The ministry earlier stated that the market of plant protection chemicals in the country was saturated and the farms had all the possibilities to satisfy their demand at full measure.

The total requirement of Ukraine's agricultural producers in plant protection chemicals has been assessed for 2004 in 11.726 million tonnes.