In 2021, Russian scientific organizations, together with enterprises in the real sector of the economy, produced about 20 thousand tons of elite potato seeds, which is almost 50% of the needs of the Russian market, follows from the data of the Ural Federal Agrarian Research Center (UrFARC) of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is reported by the news agency Regnum.
The total planting area under potatoes in Russia amounted to more than 1,1 million hectares, and the gross harvest was more than 18,2 million tons, and if the indicated productivity rates are maintained, by 2025 our country will reach the level of 100% supply of domestic potato seed material of higher reproductions .
This result became possible thanks to a set of measures taken by scientific institutions and enterprises of the real sector of the economy within the framework of the subprogram "Development of selection and seed production of potatoes in the Russian Federation" of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program (FSTP) for the development of agriculture for 2017-2025.
Since the beginning of the subprogram, 29 new domestic competitive varieties of potatoes (both table and suitable for processing) have been registered. These domestic breeding achievements are comparable to foreign counterparts, and in some respects, such as productivity and resistance to diseases, they are superior.
In addition, a unique breeding center was created on the basis of the Ural Federal Agrarian Research Center (UrFARC) of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which allows for potato breeding at a higher level thanks to MAS technology - marker-oriented breeding. In total, there are five such breeding centers in Russia so far.