TULA, July 23. /TASS/. Russian agricultural producers have already harvested over 50 mln metric tons of grain and pulse crops, including more than 43 mln metric tons of grain, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev told TASS.

"We have just visited a field of the Zarya agricultural company, making ourselves familiar with the progress in the harvesting campaign in-situ. It should be said results are good this year, not only in the Tula Region but all over Russia. The pace is high. Judge for yourself - more than 50 mln metric tons of grain and pulse crops were threshed (just about 25 mln metric tons last year), including over 43 mln metric tons of wheat and more than 4.5 mln metric tons of barley," Patrushev said.

Furthermore, about 290,000 metric tons of potatoes and more than 315,000 metric tons of vegetables were harvested. "It should be said that harvesting is challenging - the drought in certain regions and rains in others. Nevertheless, I reiterate, the pace is good, the results are better than last year; the main point is to continue acting with the same efficiency," the deputy prime minister said.