Buckwheat is one of the least expensive and most environmentally friendly agricultural crops; its cultivation requires significantly less nitrogen fertilizers than grain crops and there is no need to use fungicides, insecticides, or retardants. A big plus in cultivating buckwheat is the fact that this crop is a favorable predecessor for most other agricultural crops that are grown in the fields of our region. That is, its agrotechnical role in crop rotation is difficult to overestimate.

In Dubrovenshchina this year 351 hectares of this crop have been sown. We visited JSC "Vostok-Chirino", where on Wednesday they had already finished harvesting the buckwheat field.

The agricultural enterprise has been growing this crop for several years. This spring, 50 hectares were allocated for buckwheat.

— Buckwheat is a difficult crop for Belarus. Few people take on growing it. For a rich harvest, you need to properly prepare the soil and monitor the crop at each stage of ripening. The potassium content in the soil for buckwheat greatly affects its performance, so we try to apply fertilizers, chemicals, everything on time to achieve the best results. The crop itself is good because it shades weeds, that is, suppresses them, due to which the plant itself develops very well, — says Pavel Lukashov, head of JSC Vostok-Chirino. — The main thing for it is distance from villages and noisy highways, proximity to a forest or an apiary, so that bees can pollinate.

The time of threshing the crop is usually determined by the color of the stem (it changes from green to brown), and there should be at least 70% of ripe grains. This year, buckwheat harvesting began here earlier than usual. This is due to weather conditions, and this crop was sown in mid-May, slightly ahead of the agrotechnical deadlines.

During our visit to the field, the combines were flashing their lights, thus indicating that the bunkers were full. They are operated by competent, experienced and responsible machine operators Alexander Pleshkov and Leonid Nikitenko.