Speaking at a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday, Alexander Malko, director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Rosselkhoztsentr, noted that currently there is a transition from one certification system for seed potatoes, which has been built for years, to a new one. But the branches of the institution issue documents for certified planting material to farmers without any delay.
Alexander Mikhailovich also drew the attention of those present to the importance of tuber analysis:
- Potato is a vegetatively propagated crop and, of course, in the process of cultivation, it accumulates various kinds of diseases - fungal, viral, bacterial, which is a big problem. Tuber analysis helps to establish the presence of diseases and develop a promising system of protective measures, and this is extremely important, especially for seed potatoes. And the costs of tuber analysis, as calculated by science, pay off well. Potato is a crop whose seed material should be as close as possible to the sowing conditions. And, according to the autumn monitoring, only 86% of the potatoes at that time were conditioned.
In 2021, the branches of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Rosselkhoztsentr checked 570,7 thousand tons of seed potatoes. In general, in the Russian Federation, 96,8% (in 2020 - 92,2%) of tested seeds meet the requirements of the standard. 188,1 thousand tons of off-grade potatoes were planted (in 2020 - 211,1 thousand tons). 0,17 million tons of seed potatoes were certified, and 3473 certificates were issued for batches. 0,014 million tons of vegetable seeds were certified and 5992 certificates were issued. 204 ISTA certificates and 4082 various national certificates for seeds were reissued for vegetables, 551 national certificates for potatoes.
The register of seed farms in Russia has been expanded with the allocation of producers, including seed potatoes.
Thus, in general, 724,4 thousand tons of seed potatoes and 8,7 thousand tons of vegetable crops were planted in agricultural enterprises throughout the country. On 36,5 thousand hectares, registration of varietal crops of potatoes was carried out, on 46,44 thousand hectares - their approbation, respectively, on 0,4 thousand hectares varietal crops of vegetable crops were registered and on 1,9 thousand hectares they were tested.
In 2021, 5,11 million tons of seeds were subjected to phytoexamination and 0,84 million tons of potatoes were subjected to tuber analysis. 0,82 million tons of potato tubers were treated.