Vadim Makhanko, General Director of the RUE "Scientific and Production Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Potato and Fruit and Vegetable Growing", spoke about the prospects of potato growing in the republic at the press conference "Prospective directions of work of agricultural scientists in ensuring food security and increasing the export potential of the agro-industrial complex of Belarus."
“The rise in temperature has led to the emergence of about 30 new potato diseases on the territory of Belarus, which did not exist before. They were in the south of Europe, in the north of Africa. One disease, such as early watery rot, I want to emphasize especially. In the last three years, the losses from it are higher than from the most terrible disease that we previously knew - from late blight, ”said Makhanko.
Along with the warming, drought began to appear more and more often on the territory of the republic. However, according to the scientist, both science and agrarians were ready for this.
“When about 50 years ago there were the first manifestations of drought, even then Belarusian breeders began to work on this direction. And this year, when July was very dry, we got a good result for a number of potato varieties, ”said the speaker.
The average yield in the country this year is 25 tons per hectare. In some farms, they received several times more - up to 80 tons. The expert emphasized that it was the varieties of the Belarusian selection that showed themselves better.
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