Field Crops in the Republic of Kosovo, 2014
Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) has published data on "Field Crops in the Republic of Kosovo, 2014". This is the second publication that releases data from the Census of Agriculture 2014. In this publication are presented data on subsidies and investment grants in agriculture, data from surveys of agricultural households, as well as some data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
This publication presents data on total area of agricultural land of arable land areas - fields, surfaces with field crops such as cereals, grain legumes, fruit-root (potatoes), forage crops; vegetables, area cultivated with monoculture crops, vehicles and agricultural equipment, as well as investment subsidies and grants for field crops.
The data presented in this publication are aggregated at Kosovo level, according to region and municipality (in some cases). This publication also presents class sizes for the number of agricultural holdings, and from the area.
Results of the Agriculture Census (AC) 2014 showed that the share of arable land-fields in the total area of agricultural land used is 43.6% (180 381 he). The average area of arable land - fields for farm is 1.6 he.
Cereals occupy the bulk of arable land-fields with a total of 97 026 agriculture holdings with a total area cultivated with cereals 131 949. 39 he. The average size of the area with cereals per agriculture holding is around 1.36 he. Over 81.8% of agricultural holdings, or 79 396 of them, have under 2 he of cultivated agricultural holding with cereals.
Crop which occupies most of the arable land-field is wheat (50.3%), followed by maize (19.4%).
Biggest producers of wheat globally in 2013, according to statistics from the FAOSTAT' (2013) were: China, 115 million/t; India, 80 million/t; US, 60 million/t; Russia, 41 million/t; and Canada, 23 million/t. While for the EU countries, according to Eurostat (2013), the biggest producers were: France, with around 37 million/t; Germany, with 25 million/t; and Bulgaria, with 5.4 million/t. While, from the former Yugoslavia, Serbia leads with 563 403 he, followed by Croatia with 204 506 hectares planted with wheat.
According to the Census of Agriculture in the Republic of Kosovo (CA) 2014, the cultivated area of wheat was 90 727.78 he, while the number of agricultural holdings which cultivated wheat was 74 532 agriculture holdings, or about 1.22 he per agricultural household.
The municipality with the highest participation in the cultivation of wheat for the area cultivated with wheat is Skenderaj with 6 936.96 he, and the municipality of Podujeva has the biggest number of agricultural holdings dealing with the cultivation of wheat.
Largest producers of corn, according to FAOSTAT (2013) were: the United States with over 350 million/t; China with over 217 million/t; Brazil with 80 million/t; and Argentina with over 32 million/t. While in the EU countries (Eurostat, 2013) largest producers were: France with over 15 million/t; Spain and Romania with over 11 million/t; and Hungary with around 7 million/t.
Area under maize, at the country level, according to CA 2014, is 35 038.22 he, while the number of agricultural holdings dealing with the cultivation of maize is 64 979. The average area of cultivated maize per agriculture holding is 0.54 he. Only 15% of the area cultivated with maize belongs to the class with over 5 he, while 66% of the area cultivated with maize belongs to the class under 2 he.
In terms of municipalities, Podujeva has the largest number of agricultural holdings dealing with the cultivation of maize, with a total of 5 237, while the Lipjan municipality has the largest area cultivated with corn, 2 222.40 he.
Regarding the grain legumes, the most cultivated crop is beans. Overall surfaces with grain beans is 3 958.55 he, while the number of agricultural holdings cultivating grain beans is 34 925.
According to municipality, Podujeva has largest area (375.26 ha) with grain legume, compared to other municipalities in the country level. Also, this municipality has the biggest number of agricultural holdings (3 951) cultivating grain beans.
Regarding fruit-root, potato is the main fruit-root crop cultivated in Kosovo. According to CA 2014, overall surface in national level cultivated with this crop is 3 694.53 he, cultivated by 18 732 agriculture holdings. The municipality which has the largest area cultivated with potatoes is Vushtrri with 1 327.84 he of area.
Regarding forage crops, lucerne, clover, grass mixture, green corn and pumpkin fodder are the most cultivated crops from the surface as well from the number of agricultural holdings. According to the Census of Agriculture 2014 in Kosovo lucerne is grown in the area of 15 010.77 he, out of a total of 23 687 agricultural holdings.
The municipality that stands out with the biggest number of agricultural holdings and cultivation of lucerne is Skenderaj with 2 419 agricultural holdings and 1 734.75 he area.
According to CA 2014, 34 827 agricultural holdings deal with the cultivation of vegetables, in a total area of 6 689.15 he. Planted with vegetables are 3.7% of arable land-fields (6 689 he). Among the vegetables, more than 38% of the land is planted with peppers, and there are 30 533 agricultural holdings who cultivate this crop in a total area of 2 553.01 he.
According to municipality, the municipality of Rahoves dominance as in the number of agricultural holdings that have grown peppers (2 779 of them), as well as in the cultivation of the crop area, 1 160.48 he.
For more information regarding the publication "Field Crops in the Republic of Kosovo 2014", visit: http://ask.rks-gov.net/en/kosovo-agency-of-statistics/agriculture/agriculture-census