The Republic of Chuvashia ranks first in the Volga Federal District in the production of potatoes per 100 hectares of land, and seventh in Russia, reports official website of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Chuvash Republic.
According to preliminary data, this season the farmers of the republic managed to harvest about 335 thousand tons of potatoes, which is 4% more than last year.
Such high results in the Ministry of Agriculture of Chuvashia are associated with the modernization of agricultural production. Grants help farmers with this.
About 5 billion rubles are annually invested in the agro-industrial complex of Chuvashia from the budget in the form of support. And this year, this figure has increased by 700 million.
The yield of potatoes this year at the farm of Valentin Pavlov reached 275,5 centners per hectare. Now everything has been harvested on the farmer's fields, potatoes are being sorted and packed in storage facilities.
Valentin Pavlov opened the KFH in 2007. Before that, he grew potatoes on his own land for a couple of years. The areas were small, only 50 acres. He remembers that everything was done by hand then: they planted, hilled, dug, collected. Today, a farmer's farm is nowhere without machinery, almost all processes are mechanized, because the area of cultivated land has increased 100 times! Potatoes are now grown on 50 hectares.
— All products are seed potatoes, we work with 5-6 varieties. All of them are highly productive,” the farmer shared.
A grant from the state received in 2020 under the “Family Farmer in Crop Production” program helped achieve this development. To 5 million grant rubles, Valentin Pavlov added his own 4 million and bought a line for the primary processing of potatoes. Now the workflow is even faster - up to 70 tons of crops are processed per shift.
And in order for the seeds to be stored properly and not deteriorate for a long time, a modern storage facility was built on the farm.
- We plan to store 500 tons of potatoes in boxes in this room. Each of them holds at least a ton of potatoes and is stored in good condition. We also bought a diesel forklift to facilitate the work, the farmer said.
There are also plans to purchase equipment for packing and sizing tubers in order to fully mechanize potato processing processes. Everything is feasible - good, the products are in demand, and not only among compatriots. For 13 years, customers from Azerbaijan have been ordering seeds of elite varieties of potatoes from the farmer. This year, 67 tons of Udacha potatoes were sent there from the farmer's fields. Another delivery (about 100 tons) is planned in the near future.