MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's agriculture minister said Monday that accurate data on losses sustained in crop production due to record-low winter temperatures would be released at the president's meeting with the cabinet on March 15.
Alexei Gordeyev said that according to preliminary estimates made by the ministry, in cooperation with regional authorities and the Russian Hydro-Meteorological Service, the country lost "3.5 to 4 million hectares, or as much as 30% of its winter crops" due to the deep freeze that gripped the country in mid-January, and continued into February.
The minister said it would cost Russian farmers more than $355 million to compensate for this winter's crop losses.
The Volga region is the one worst affected by the freeze, with 75% of the winter crops lost in Bashkortostan and 50% in the Orenburg region, Gordeyev said.
Central and southern regions saw crop losses reach 30%, about the same percentage as in the severe winters of 1994 and 2003.
Fruit trees and vineyards were hit the hardest, Gordeyev said. In the Krasnodar region alone, the unusually cold temperatures killed some 3,000 hectares of vineyards, and all the plum and apricot trees. The overall fruit and grape losses, estimated at $71 million, will be the heaviest since the 1978-79 season.
