The drought is killing off the crops’ remnants.

(Kazan, August 17, Tatar-inform, Irina Ignatieva). Farmers in Tatarstan are praying for rains. The ongoing drought is killing off what is left of the crops, the Tatarstan Agriculture Ministry has told Tatar-inform.

The sugar beet and potato crops are dying without moisture. Farmers in some regions, failing to see the rains promised by weather forecasters, have begun to sow winter crops. The seeds are planted into parched soil. No sprouts will appear if no rains take place.

The farmers continue to pray for rain. The fate of the next harvest is being decided, the absence of rains cannot but be alarming. Rainy spells in Tatarstan have been brief and scattered. Such rainfall cannot even be recorded by weather stations. A short rain that yesterday took place in the Mamadysh region, for instance, moisturised the soil 0.5 millimetres deep. The situation is about the same in the other areas where rains have taken place.
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