A selection and seed-growing center for breeding and growing elite varieties of potatoes, adapted to the climatic characteristics of different regions of Russia, will be created in the Komi Republic. The project is estimated at 665 million rubles, the first batch of products is expected in 2020, Andrei Yudin, acting director of the Institute of Agriculture of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch (Ural Branch) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS.
“A breeding and seed-growing center will be created in Komi on the territory of priority social and economic development (TOR)“ Emva ”. Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2019. One of the South Korean companies showed great interest in the breeding work of our institute, it initiated the creation of such a center and its co-investor, has the technology of breeding and growing potatoes on an industrial scale. It is estimated at 665 million rubles and will be realized at the expense of investors, credit resources and guarantees from the government of the Komi Republic, ”he said.
According to Yudin, the created center will be a subordinate institution of the Komi Scientific Center. “Our center will cover all the needs of the Komi Republic for high-quality potato seeds, adapt the seeds to the climatic characteristics of other regions of Russia. This innovative, high-tech project has no analogues in Russia, ”he added.
Project indicators
The acting director of the institute noted that the center is planned to be created this year, it will require about 200 new jobs. The first batch of seeds should be released in 2020. The complex is calculated for the production of up to 60 million tubers of seed potatoes and more than 120 thousand tons of ware potatoes per year.
The products will be in demand, the initiators of the project are sure, since potatoes are widely used in many areas, in the production of alcohol, animal feed, starch, and primarily as a food crop - Russia ranks fifth in the world in terms of its consumption after Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Poland. Consumption is 131 kg per person per year. At the same time, consumption in 2017 reached 31 million tons, and 29,6 million tons were produced, the missing amount was imported.
According to scientists, the relatively low volumes of potato production in Russia are explained by the fact that there is no high-quality seed base. The regions vary significantly in climatic characteristics, but very few high-yielding and resistant to these climatic characteristics of the varieties. At the same time, the Komi Republic, where about 55 thousand tons of potatoes are produced, is not even included in the thirty leading regions for this crop. But if there are varieties capable of producing high yields in harsh conditions, and taking into account the area of Komi, they can enter the leading regions in the production of potatoes, they believe.
Based on bred varieties
The work of the center will be based on the long-term experience of Komi scientists on the development of promising, high-yielding varieties of potatoes, resistant to diseases, with good taste. So, in 2017, an author's certificate was obtained for the Zyryanets variety, which is resistant to a complex of fungal diseases, cancer and golden nematodes, and its yield is 1,7 times higher than that of other varieties and reaches 34 tons per hectare. Another promising variety is "In Memory of the Field". In total, Komi scientists bred 12 potato breeding lines.
According to the agreements concluded, the Moscow Region and the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Komi Republic (UFSIN), which is ready to purchase up to 20% of the center’s products, showed interest in the products of the center being created. These intentions are confirmed in a tripartite agreement concluded between the Komi government, the institute and the Federal Penitentiary Service, Yudin noted. There is also a preliminary agreement with Promsvyazbank on financing the project, an agreement with one of the South Korean companies, a number of agreements with major agricultural holdings in Russia are being concluded.
The center will be created in Emva, where investors can take advantage of the special tax regime of the TOP and the established infrastructure. “Our potato varieties can be adapted to other Arctic regions - the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs and other Arctic territories, that is, to get high-quality potatoes in a short summer, short daylight hours,” Yudin said.
Source: https://tass.ru