(USAgNet) – Ukraine’s spring crop sowing area may more than half this year from 2021 levels to some 7 million hectares, its Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko said on Tuesday, versus 15 million hectares expected before the Russian invasion.

Ukraine is a major global agriculture producer and exporter, and the hostilities may sharply reduce the 2022 harvest and exports in the forthcoming 2022/23 season, reports Reuters.

Its spring crop sowing forecast covers grains such as barley and corn, as well as other crops such as sugar beet, sunflowers, and soybeans.

“The adjusted plan currently stands at 7 million hectares,” Leshchenko told Reuters.

“We have actually corrected (the initial plan) by half; there will be less corn.

“We have large stocks of corn, and how to export it later is a very difficult question.”

He said farmers could sow up to 3.3 million hectares of corn this year versus 5.4 million hectares in 2021.

Leshchenko said the ministry had urged farmers to sow more spring wheat, buckwheat, oats, millet, and spring barley.

He gave no forecast for the sown area of those specific crops, but said overly dry weather could affect the sowing.

“Today, the issue of food security is at the forefront,” the minister said.

Ukraine sowed only 176,000 hectares of spring wheat last year as the country is a traditional grower of winter wheat.