Siberian scientists with Chinese partners planted fields with potatoes as part of the project of the largest potato growing center beyond the Urals, the press service of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS reports.
At the end of last year, the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS concluded with PekingKRA (a Chinese company with state participation) a preliminary agreement on the creation of the largest potato-growing research and production center in the Urals, near the Urals.
Russian scientists, along with farmers (SibKRA company), with the participation of colleagues from China, planted the first 30 hectares as part of an ecological and geographical experiment. The grown potatoes will be sold in the PRC, and the obtained data on yield and sustainability in the future will serve to create new domestic potato varieties adapted to the climatic conditions of our region and suitable for technological processing.
By the end of the year, it is planned to conclude a concession agreement between the Russian and Chinese sides, which will allow us to start the creation of a Selection and Seed Center and an enterprise for the production and processing of potatoes in the region.
According to the project documentation, we are talking about growing high-quality potatoes in areas of tens of thousands of hectares for the manufacture of starch, potato powder and other products from potatoes. The main buyer of these products should be China and Asian countries.
“In addition to a significant array of commercial potato cultivation, we plan to sow about a thousand hectares to form a domestic seed fund. This crop will become the basis for the implementation of the federal scientific and technical program for the development of agriculture in the field of potato growing, which should solve the problem of import substitution in the industry, ”said Vadim Khlestkin, researcher at the molecular biotechnology laboratory.
According to scientists, if there are no unforeseen barriers, the enterprise should earn at full capacity in five years.
Source: http://info.sibnet.ru