The conference "Potato growing - innovations and export prospects" was held on October 6, at one of the sites of the Russian agro-industrial forum "Golden Autumn - 2017" chaired by the Director of the Department of Plant Growing, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia Peter Chekmarev.
The Russian Federation traditionally ranks third in the world in potato production, second only to China and India. It accounts for about 8% of the total global gross harvest of potatoes.
“The average annual production of potatoes in the country is about 29,8 million tons, which allows us to fully meet domestic consumption. The main potato production is concentrated in the Central, Volga and Northern federal districts. They annually account for about 30%, 25% and 15% of the total gross harvest, respectively, "- said Peter Chekmarev.
He noted that today there is a tendency to reduce the cultivation of potatoes in personal households. In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in potato production in agricultural organizations, peasant (farmer) farms and individual entrepreneurs. So, with the start of the implementation of the State Program for 2013-2020, the share of potato production in these categories of farms in 2016 amounted to 22,1% (6 thousand tons) versus 863,9% in 17,7 (2013 thousand tons).
“The country has good capacities in the production of seed potatoes and potato products, including for export. Now it is important to focus on high-quality breeding of disease-resistant potato species, as well as to develop intensive processing of this crop more intensively, ”stressed Petr Chekmarev.
During the conference, participants also considered issues of promoting marketable and seed potatoes and their processed products to the markets of the EAEU countries, state support and subsidizing potato growing.
Source: http://svetich.info