Russian farmers prefer foreign varieties of open field vegetables. Elena Alekperova, General Director of the Agrostat Agency, spoke about the reasons for this imbalance and the peculiarities of the distribution of production of open field vegetables in Russia.
Text: Alexandra Nevskaya
Elena Alekperova
General Director of the Agrostat Agency
The independent analytical agency "Agrostat" has been specializing in marketing research in the field of agriculture for 22 years. This study is based on direct surveys of agricultural producers from all regions of Russia. 270 interviews of farms served as a source of data for a statistical study of open-field vegetables grown in Russia.
Gross harvest and sown area of vegetables in open ground
According to Rosstat, in recent years, the gross harvest of vegetables in open ground in agricultural enterprises and peasant farms of the country has been steadily growing. At the same time, the sown areas occupied by vegetable crops remain approximately at the same level. This can indicate both the change of varieties by farms to more productive ones, and the use of more advanced production technologies.
Distribution of outdoor vegetable production in different types of farms
According to Rosstat, the total volume of production of open field vegetables in the country for five years - from 2014 to 2019 - increased by 542 thousand tons.This is a fairly significant figure. At the same time, during this period, the redistribution of the cultivation of vegetables in large and small farms did not occur - as before, most of the products are produced by the population for personal purposes.
However, it is gratifying that this share is steadily declining due to the industrial sector - peasant farms and agricultural enterprises. This means that there is progress in the industry. An increase in the share of production of personal subsidiary plots, on the contrary, would mean stagnation and regression of the industry.
Geographic distribution of interviews by culture
The analytical agency Agrostat conducted 270 interviews (one for each crop) in open field vegetable farms. The geographical division of different crops is quite well observed: if tomatoes and cucumbers are freely grown in the south of Russia (in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Kabardino-Balkaria, Astrakhan and Volgograd Regions), then in the rest of the regions they grow mainly vegetables of the so-called borsch set.
What influences the decision to engage in the production of open field vegetables
Why do farmers choose this or that crop for cultivation? In the first place, of course, there are climatic and soil conditions, as well as the technological capabilities of the economy and the experience of the agronomist. However, it is almost as important as this culture is profitable and in demand in the market.
Domestic and foreign varieties - area structure
It is interesting that the maximum area of varieties of domestic selection in Russia is occupied by cucumbers. Least of all, the farms have varieties of carrots and tomatoes of Russian selection.
There are some of the most common variety problems for growers. Among them, two main ones can be named: the high cost of seeds of foreign hybrids and the backwardness of domestic breeding. The ratio of varieties of foreign and domestic selection
speaks for itself: in our fields, varieties and hybrids of foreign-made vegetables undoubtedly dominate. It would seem that vegetables of Russian selection should be better adapted to regional climatic and soil conditions, should be more resistant to local diseases and pests. However, domestic breeding remains an academic discipline and is currently less competitive.
Overall satisfaction with varietal composition
In general, farmers are satisfied with the varietal composition of the vegetable crops market. Farms are the least satisfied with the varietal set of tomatoes and cucumbers. However, this level of satisfaction speaks, unfortunately, only that farmers are poorly informed about others.
varieties and hybrids of vegetables.
There is an interesting nuance: farms know much better about varieties of vegetables of foreign selection than about varieties of Russian selection.
Sources of information used and the level of trust in them
Farmers receive information from a wide variety of sources. The most reliable data certainly comes from personal experience. Interestingly, however, the second most important information comes from variety developers and seed distributors. The fact is that the creators of varieties, seed producers and farmers are very closely and directly related, and if one day the information received from the distributor "deceives" the farmer, he will lose the crop, and the distributor will lose the client.
Loyalty to the used varieties and hybrids - plans for the next year
As interviews show, farmers rarely change the varieties used on the farm. However, almost every year, new ones are put into circulation without changing
completely varietal composition. This is explained by the fact that the varietal technology of vegetable crops is tied to specific varieties much more strongly than the technology of cultivation of field crops. In a rigid hitch with a variety or hybrid of vegetables, there is a set of machines and devices, as well as fertilizers and plant protection products.
Conditions for the transition to domestic varieties and hybrids
Indeed, Russian farmers would willingly switch to varieties of Russian selection. However, this will not happen until growers are convinced of the proper seed quality and are confident in the predictability of the result.