Viruses of lack of money and devastation hit the once powerful institute of agriculture "Belogorka". A federal research institute near Gatchina is desperately fighting for survival. Without emergency assistance, the institution may not survive the coming winter, as according to Darwin's law.
- "Let's remove, well, about 15 boxes, that's 300 kilograms."
The love of their whole life is potatoes. The scientific field romance of the couple of scientists began decades ago. On the vast field of the native research institute "Belogorka", the pair is habitually controlled by four hands.
- "We were left alone, there are no laboratory assistants, there are no researchers, there are no workers either."
Nadim Hajiyev is 66 years old, his wife is already 70. Both - enchanted with “Charoite” - this variety turned out to be extremely unassuming, and you can harvest it after planting in 60 days.
Nadim Gadzhiev Head of the Seed Breeding Department of the Leningrad Research Institute of Agriculture "Belogorka":
- "Very good shape - perfect, small eyes."
The variety was nicknamed "Charoite" in honor of a rare mineral. Its reserves are already exhausted. The research institute is not able to start production of the unique potato.
Nadim Gadzhiev, Head of the Seed Breeding Department of the Leningrad Research Institute of Agriculture "Belogorka":
- “We create varieties, but they do not reach the consumer, yes, absolutely right, this link is connecting - it is not there”.
Since the beginning of the 15s, XNUMX varieties of "second bread" have been bred at the Institute of Agriculture. And all of them, breeders assure, turned out to be much more useful than their foreign counterparts.
Vera Lebedeva Chief Researcher of the Leningrad Research Institute of Agriculture "Belogorka":
"They require fewer chemical treatments, so our potatoes are more environmentally friendly and safer, but they didn't pay attention to this abroad, there was an opportunity to use chemistry in sufficient quantities."
Alexander Gromov, correspondent:
- “Plant breeders call this place a“ graveyard of science ”- the rusty skeletons of abandoned greenhouses are overgrown with hogweed, but once, scientists say, it was here that they bred their best potato varieties, there is no money to restore the unique laboratory, and there is no one else to work here ".
The selection-seed complex looks powerlessly at all of this with broken windows. The shelter of the local outcasts was built as a maternity hospital of new varieties, but since the late 80s the buildings have been empty.
Source: http://47channel.ru