MOSCOW, Sept 19 (Askume) – Russia’s vast Krasnoyarsk region declared a state of emergency on Thursday after heavy rains destroyed emerging winter crops, bringing the total number of grain-producing regions in Siberia under a state of emergency to four so far.
In early September, a state of emergency was declared in the Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions.
The combined output of these four regions was about 5% of last year’s grain production in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter.
Declaring a state of emergency allows farmers to claim compensation.
“Due to excessive rainfall and high soil moisture, farmers’ crops were damaged during the germination process,” Sergei Ponomarenko, first deputy governor of the Krasnoyarsk region, said in a statement.
Ponomarenko estimates the affected area at more than 17,000 hectares, with initial economic losses exceeding 280 million rubles ($3 million). The loss of the winter crop will impact next year’s harvest.
More than a dozen Russian grain-producing regions have been hit by extreme weather, from cold in early spring to drought in recent months. Bad weather has affected more than 1.1 million hectares of land, officials said.
Despite the deficit, Russia maintained its official grain production forecast at 132 million tonnes, down 10% from the previous year, and its export forecast at 60 million tonnes.
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