Potato harvest nears completion in Stavropol

The taste and nutritional qualities of Stavropol potatoes are known far beyond the region. The most popular varieties are Colombo, Gala, Romano, Red Scarlet. The main industrial production of culture is concentrated in the Ipatovsky, Predgorny, Krasnogvardeysky and Kirov districts.

- As of the current date, agricultural producers of the region harvested 4.6 thousand hectares, which is 77% of the plan. Farmers harvested 120.3 thousand tons of potatoes with a yield of 264 kg/ha. At the end of the year, it is planned to harvest 138 thousand tons of potatoes, the bulk of which will be stored. To date, 41.3 thousand tons of tubers have been sent to potato storage facilities, - noted acting. First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Stavropol Territory Evgeny Grishchenko.

One of the leading districts in the development of potato growing in the region is Piedmont. On the plots of local peasant (farmer) farms, experiments are often laid, in which new varieties of seed potatoes of domestic selection are involved. The replacement of seed imports with promising Russian ones should occur before 2025 and is one of the tasks of local vegetable growing in the coming years.
In addition, in the summer of 2021, the technology for growing potato summer plantings using drip irrigation was also tested in the Foothills.

- The formation of spring planting tubers is negatively affected by high summer temperatures, as a result of which the yield decreases, and potato degenerates. During summer planting, tuberization is postponed to the autumn period of time, when the temperature is lower and soil moisture is higher. Caring for summer plantings of potatoes does not differ from caring for spring plantings, with the exception of reducing the number of treatments for diseases and pests, - explained Alexander Golota, chief specialist of the Stavropol SICC of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Territory.

To conduct an experiment on the fields of K (F) X Sergey Mernov from the village of Yasnaya Polyana, on June 30, plantings were made. At the moment, the first result has already been obtained - the quality of potatoes has improved, larger tubers have been obtained. To date, 1.5 hectares of the Colombo variety have been harvested, 45 tons of potatoes have been harvested, the harvesting of the later-ripening variety Picasso is scheduled for November.

- In 2021, Stavropol vegetable growers received 117.9 million rubles as a subsidy for the provision of unrelated support to agricultural producers in the development of the production of seed potatoes and open-field vegetables. The total subsidized area amounted to 6.1 thousand hectares at a subsidy rate of 28.7 thousand rubles per hectare. Thanks to these support measures, it was possible to compensate up to 54% of the costs of Stavropol farmers, - stressed the acting. Minister of Agriculture of the Stavropol Territory Sergey Izmalkov.