Who grows potatoes and how much in Belarus?
As the Learned, the main crop of potatoes in Belarus is harvested in private farmsteads. About 80% of the total potato planting area is concentrated among the population. It is expected that this year a harvest of about 5 million tons will be grown here. The remaining 1,1 million tons - in agricultural organizations and farms. By the way, in recent years, the ratio of potato production volumes between them has changed significantly. The share of farms in 2019 was 41% (compared to 15% in 2010). The average yield in agricultural organizations and farms increased by one and a half times (from 186 to 292 c / ha), and gross production - by 7% (up to 1,1 million tons).
At the same time, the yield of potatoes in specialized agricultural organizations is significantly higher than the national average. For example, at the Tolochin cannery it reaches almost 500 c / ha, while the average for Belarus is about 300 c / ha.
At present, the harvesting of potatoes is almost completed (11% of the area remained, according to the Ministry of Agriculture as of October 13). Agricultural organizations have already harvested nearly 600 thousand tons of potatoes. It is sold in retail chains, at fairs, exported, industrialized, laid in stabilization funds and in specialized storage facilities.
Depending on the purpose for which potatoes are needed, they choose from 173 varieties included in the state register. There are special varieties, for example, for preparing semi-finished fries, crispy potatoes, for salads, for adding to frozen vegetable mixtures, preparing dry mashed potatoes, and vacuum storage. The three most popular domestic varieties include Breeze (takes 16% in the planting structure), Scarb (14%) and Manifest (10%). By the way, varieties of Belarusian selection remain the most popular - they occupy 75% of the planting structure.
What does the Tolochin cannery produce?
The Tolochin Cannery is one of the oldest enterprises in Belarus (built in 1906). Since 2006, it has been a member of the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences for Potato and Horticulture.
The enterprise is engaged in the production of potato starch, juice products, wine (6 tons, 840 million liters and about XNUMX thousand decaliters per year, respectively), growing potatoes, grain and oilseeds, as well as their seeds, conducts industrial gardening, has retail outlets and catering.
The farmland area of the plant is more than 8 thousand hectares, including 6,5 thousand hectares - arable land. On 630 hectares, an industrial fruit and berry orchard of intensive type has been laid, where apples, pears, plums, cherries, black and red currants, chokeberries, gooseberries, raspberries and blueberries are grown.
Still, the enterprise places great emphasis on potato growing.
In 2015, a full potato storage complex was put into operation here. The installed equipment allows for automatic pre-sale preparation: washed, dried, polished and sorted root crops are packed in nets of different sizes.
Thanks to this, in just eight months of this year, the proceeds from the sale of ware potatoes amounted to Br2,643 million, the profitability of sales exceeded 19%. A significant part of the products are shipped for export to Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg), and from 2019 to Ukraine.
By the end of this year, the Tolochin cannery plans to complete the construction of a quick freezing shop. Here they will make French fries from their own raw materials, using domestic innovative technology of flattening and thin-layer breading (that is, liquid and dry breading). The line capacity is 3,6 thousand tons per year. The production of such volumes will make it possible to completely replace the import of similar products in trade and expand the export supplies of products with high added value.