Last year's drought has led to a large shortage of seed potatoes in Yakutia this year. A thousand tons of seed material is planned to be imported from other regions, the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic Alexander Atlasov told the online publication Sakhaparliament.ru.
Among the priority measures is the support of agricultural enterprises of the republic. As noted during meetings to ensure socio-economic stability the head of Yakutia, Aisen Nikolaev, will allocate 358 million rubles for the purchase of compound feed, over 88 million rubles for spring field work, for the purchase of seed potatoes.
“Last year's poor potato harvest due to drought led to farms having a large shortage of potato seed material for planting this year. So, for planting 2700 hectares of potatoes, the need is 8100 tons in organized farms. According to preliminary data, only 4,9 thousand tons were covered in organized farms, the missing amount of seeds for the planned area is 3,2 thousand tons. Provision with seed material 60,5%. Taking into account the financial capabilities of the farms, 1000 tons of potato seed material will be imported from outside the republic,” the minister said.
According to the head of the department, 5 varieties of potatoes have been zoned in the republic: Varmas, Tulun early, Yakutyanka, Severny and Lyubava. Of those approved for 11 regions, the farms of Yakutia use the Rosara and Nevsky varieties. According to the branch of the Russian Agricultural Center for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), these varieties are not currently available in the regions of the Far East and Siberia.