March 13 2003, 15:12 APK-Inform

Ukrainian farmers may face problems with seeds - AgMin official

A top official from Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy told journalists that Ukrainian farmers might face problems with provision of seeds for spring sowing campaign. "According to the law and to the practice, the seed insurance fund usually contains 15 percent of the necessary amount of seeds. In this year, however, 50 to 60 percent of winter crops - in some cases even more - have been killed," he said.

He noted that the amount of seeds available in the market was sufficient, but the trouble was that high-quality seeding material required significant financial resources, which agricultural producers quite often lacked.

"The trouble is not in the availability of seeds, but of money to buy the seeds," the official said.