In Ukraine, the autumn campaign for planting forests has begun, during which seedlings with a closed root system from the selection and seed centers of the Lviv, Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil regions will be actively used.
These seedlings, as shown the results of pilot plantings, have a much higher survival rate and growth, the head of the State Forestry Agency, Yurii Bolokhovets, reported on Facebook.
"That's why we are going to maximize the technology that has proven its effectiveness," said Bolokhovets.
In these three breeding centers, lines for sowing seeds are working, their production is expanding and supplemented by growing fields.
It is also planned to open another such center in Zhytomyr region soon.
In 2022, they plan to open factories in Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kirovohrad region and Zakarpattia and expand the line in Khmelnytskyi region. And for 2023, the construction of factories in Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions and expansion of the line in Ternopil region are planned.
"Investments are needed to complete the center construction program, so we are hoping for the formation of the State Enterprise "Lisy Ukrainy", which will significantly increase our opportunities to attract financing and simplify the procedure for redistributing funds," said Bolokhovets.
He also added that in Ukraine they plan to increase the share of seedlings with a closed root system (CRS) to 20-25% of the total volume of planting, which corresponds to the practice of Poland and Germany.
Bolokhovets explained that the main advantage of seedlings with a closed root system is an increase in the time interval for planting, which significantly expands the possibilities of forestry enterprises when planning planting campaigns. CRS seedlings develop faster, which reduces the costs of caring for plantations before a full-fledged forest is formed.
"Unfortunately, this year we will no longer receive planting material from Lyman in Donetsk region, where fierce fighting is currently taking place. Last year, we opened the first seed-breeding center in eastern Ukraine for growing seedlings from CRS in the Lyman Forest Farm. They planned to revive the forests of Donetsk and Luhansk regions affected by the fires with modern, specially adapted planting material," said Bolokhovets.
He also added that the project was implemented in record time. And after the start of a full-scale invasion, it was possible to evacuate the most valuable equipment from the plant - the Swedish automated sowing line.
Bolokhovets assumed that the center in Lyman will have to be rebuilt "from scratch" after the victory.
He also noted that currently, despite the war, another stage of the "Green Country" program of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is ongoing.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in the spring of 2022 for three weeks of forestry campaign in Ukraine planted to land 65.8 million trees.
