5-8% of plants affected by diseases in unharvested sugar beet areas

In unharvested sugar beet fields across Ukraine, between 5% and 8% of plants have been found to be affected by various crop diseases. Specifically, infections of Cercospora leaf spot and phoma rot are impacting the vegetative mass of the plants. This is stated in the weekly phytosanitary report published by the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

In addition to foliar diseases, specialists are recording ailments affecting the root crops themselves. Sugar beets are suffering from common and banded scab, tail rot, dry rot, brown rot, and cavity formation. The incidence rate of these root maladies ranges from 4% to 6% across the surveyed agricultural areas, which requires careful post-harvest management.

Such phytosanitary conditions emphasize the critical need for ongoing field monitoring. Agricultural producers must keep a close eye on the remaining unharvested crops to assess potential risks to root quality and long-term storage capabilities.

Meanwhile, the sugar beet harvest campaign is progressing steadily throughout the country. According to recent operational data, sugar beets in Ukraine have already been harvested from 19% of the targeted acreage, yielding a total of 1.581 million tons of roots.

The harvesting has been completed across 31.6 thousand hectares of land. The average yield of sugar beets currently stands at a robust 499.8 centners per hectare, underpinning solid overall production metrics for the season.