Ukraine grows cotton planted for gunpowder production

Several imported cotton varieties have been planted in Ukraine for gunpowder production as part of an experiment. The last time cotton was grown in the country was in the mid-20th century.

Source: an Ekonomichna Pravda article

The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) approved a law in May 2024 that simplified the import of cotton varieties into Ukraine, and the government launched an experimental project to cultivate it in the south of the country.

Test fields are located in two areas in Odesa Oblast, covering "several plots of 10 acres each". This spring, five imported cotton varieties were sown on these lands.

The Agrarian Policy Ministry has already received interim results from the experiment: the first cotton bolls have formed and opened, indicating that the plant can mature in the Ukrainian climate. 

The harvest will be collected in several stages to send the cotton at various ripening phases for testing in the laboratories of the Defence Ministry and the Strategic Industries Ministry. They will determine whether the fibre is suitable for producing gunpowder for long-range artillery.

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