Areas under intensive and super-intensive gardens are increasing in the Rostov Region

In the Don horticultural farms and nurseries, care work has intensified: pruning, top dressing, processing trees and berry bushes from infections and pests. Gardeners take care of both in gardens that are in their fruiting age, and in the areas of young plantations, which increase every year.
“Given the current policy of import substitution and the need of the population for high-quality fruit and berry products, the development of horticulture today is becoming one of the important areas in the agro-industrial complex, and this is reflected in state support for the industry,” said Viktor Goncharov, First Deputy Governor of the Rostov Region. - So, thanks to state support, about 200 hectares of young gardens are planted annually in the Don region. In 2023, almost 130 million rubles were allocated to support the industry from the federal and regional budgets, which is 22% more than last year’s funding for the industry.”
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Rostov Region, thanks to state support, about 750 hectares of young gardens have been planted in the Don region over the past five years. In recent years, many enterprises prefer the establishment of plantations of intensive and super-intensive type. Last year, they occupied 180 hectares, which is 85% of the total area laid out in 2022 for young gardens.
“This trend is due both to the receipt of compensation from the budget for a significant part of the costs incurred for laying a new garden, and the opportunity to receive high-quality fruit products with high yields in the shortest possible time,” explained the first deputy HEAD of the region. – And we are already seeing the “first fruits” in the development of fruit growing: at the end of 2022, the harvest of fruits and berries on the Don increased by more than 20% compared to 2021, which, in turn, also saw an almost 15% increase in production in relation to 2020. A systematic increase in the gross harvest can be achieved due to the fact that recently planted intensive and super-intensive orchards begin to bear fruit in the region,
According to the operational data of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food, in the next three years, agricultural enterprises of the Rostov region plan to plant about 600 hectares of young fruit plantations.
When laying gardens, planting material of domestic production is mainly used. In the Don region, a number of enterprises and farmers are engaged in its cultivation, which provide gardeners not only in the Rostov region, but also in neighboring regions with their products. Last year they produced about 830 thousand seedlings.
In general, in agricultural organizations and farms of the Rostov region, the area under fruit trees in the fruiting age is 3.4 thousand hectares, including more than a thousand hectares under stone fruit crops, 2.4 thousand hectares are occupied by pome crops. 26 enterprises of the region are engaged in the production of fruit and berry products.