|
|
Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
|
|
Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
September 24, 2002
Establishment conditions for the 2003/04 winter wheat crop, following frequent precipitation during August and September that has replenished soil moisture reserves, are good. In 2002/03, wheat output dropped to an estimated 200,000 tons, from 300,000 tons the previous year, due chiefly to unfavorable establishment conditions last fall (see March report), followed by persistent dryness and high winds in eastern Georgia as the crop was emerging from dormancy. According to local reports, the damage was most severe in the Kakhetia region, which typically produces 50 percent of the country's wheat; in some areas the wheat crop was completely destroyed. Satellite-derived vegetative indices reflect the effect of the dryness, but also indicate that the crop recovered to some degree over the next two months. Meanwhile, 2002/03 corn output is forecast to increase by over 30 percent, to 400,000 tons. The corn crop benefited from above-normal precipitation during the growing season, in sharp contrast to last year when summer dryness reduced yield. Total Georgian grain production for 2002/03 is estimated at 0.7 million tons, essentially unchanged from last year.
Georgia is situated south of the Caucasus mountains between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea and is surrounded on the north and east by southern Russia, including a 50-mile border with Chechnya. To the south lie Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. (See map.) Georgia has approximately 3 million hectares of agricultural land, but about two-thirds of this area is devoted to permanent forage crops (meadow and pasture). Of the total sown area of roughly 600,000 hectares, grains comprise about 400,000 hectares and potatoes and vegetables about 100,000 hectares. The area of sown feed crops (alfalfa, perennial grasses, silage corn) has dropped sharply over the past ten years, from 300,000 to less than 100,000 hectares. Georgia's primary grain crops are wheat (almost exclusively winter wheat), with average production of about 200,000 tons, and corn, with average production of about 400,000 tons. Yields fluctuate from year to year, but average 1.7 tons per hectare for wheat (compared to 2.6 tons per hectare for winter wheat in Ukraine) and 2.0 tons per hectare for corn (against 3.0 tons per hectare in Ukraine) . Nearly all the country's wheat is grown in the central and eastern regions, while roughly 70 percent of the corn is grown in the west. (See Landsat image.)
Georgian grain production in 2001/02 benefited from increased technical assistance from international organizations in the form of high-quality planting seed, equipment, fertilizer, and fuel. The combination of increased aid and generally favorable weather resulted in an 85-percent increase in grain output to 0.7 million tons, from less than 0.4 million in 2000/01. The lower estimated wheat production for 2002/03 (compared to 2001/02) is attributed chiefly to the impact of unfavorable weather in eastern Georgia.
