Rice and soybeans, which are strategic crops for steppe Tavria, this year took up less acreage than last year.

According to the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of the Kherson Regional State Administration, rice in this region was sown by 5.6 thousand. At the same time, the cultivated area for this crop was reduced in all areas where rice is considered a traditional culture - Skadovsky, Golopristansky and Kalanchatsky.

This year, with an average yield of 5.7 tons of raw rice / ha, its shortfall in harvesting may amount to more than 12.5 thousand tons, which will seriously affect the domestic market of Ukraine and open up prospects for rising prices for rice cereal.

Most of the Ukrainian rice is supplied by farmers of the Kherson region. Farmers explain the reduction of sown areas by high prices for the transportation of water from the Dnieper. Not so long ago, water tariffs in the region increased by a third, while the purchase prices of rice cereal remained at last year's level.

Soybean also belongs to water-loving crops, therefore this year its sown area in the Kherson region has been reduced. Last year, almost 110 thousand hectares were allotted for this crop, and the current crops were located on 90 thousand hectares, according to Andrei Nedelko, deputy director of the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of the Kherson Regional State Administration.

This means that this year the farmers of the region will not get 1/5 of the soybean crop of the previous year.