Ukrainian potato cultivation professionalises CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY meets the required standards, which include the local variety Tyras. The variety registration cycle will be completed for the four Agroplant varieties this year. There are currently 155 local and international varieties on the Ukrainian Varieties List. As soon as a variety has been officially registered, growers may import all the seed they need. At all events, the planting stock must be free of nematodes and Phytophthora, the director says. The imported seed is likely to cost one euro per kilogram, and that is mainly because of transport costs. To limit growing costs, the Ukrainians use the high-quality seed again. There is no General Inspection Service for Agricultural Seed and Seed Potatoes (NAK) yet Growers in Ukraine themselves have the responsibility to keep the quality level high. A system for seed potatoes, such as the NAK in the Netherlands, has not yet been developed properly. The reason, according to the director, is that the potato has only been cultivated on a professional scale for five years. In addition, the acreage for growing seed potatoes is still too small to establish a profitable inspection system. Zichenko explains that the IMC-agro requirements as to the quality of second growth are much stricter than those imposed by the government authorities. He is of the opinion that a good quality seed is essential to harvest 50 tons per hectare. This year, the yield is around 40 tons. As the company invests a great deal in increasing the know-how of the agronomists they employ, Zichenko expects the yield to reach the 50 ton target quite soon. IMC-agro will also work on an irrigation system for all its fields. A step like this makes the company less dependent on the dynamics of nature. Investment in breeding Ukraine believes that new varieties are an important source for improving the cultivation of potatoes. Right now, professional growers mainly use varieties from Western Europe. Breeder Vaslin Sydorchuk also tries to breed new varieties at the research institute, for which purpose he plants 30,000 clones every year. The varieties he has developed are particularly POTATO AS A SECOND LOAF OF BREAD The potato is an important crop in Ukraine. For consumers it is even their second loaf of bread. Many people still grow potatoes in their Dachas, the well-known private vegetable gardens. During the time that Soviet leader Stalin ruled the land with an iron fist; these small plots were a guarantee of essential food for the working-class Ukrainian. The result was that these plots had higher yields than the state farms. They stored their harvests in the cellars, which were better equipped than the large storehouses. Growing your own food is still a deep-rooted custom in Ukraine. This is why 94 percent of potato growing still takes place at the Dachas. Only 6 percent of the cultivation is carried out by professional growers. Today, local and foreign supermarkets are becoming more popular. There are enormous shopping malls with complete hypermarkets rising up everywhere. They also have potatoes on their shelves. The quality is good. However, the consumers are still not certain that they are just as good as their home-grown potatoes. Moreover, they don’t believe that the supermarkets can supply quality potatoes all year round, because the potatoes in their own cellars are usually finished after May. Ongoing urbanisation means that it is merely a matter of time before an increasing number of consumers will stop growing their own potatoes and buy them in the supermarket. Ukrainian people don’t believe that the supermarkets can supply quality potatoes all year round. Potato World 2012 • number 4 15 Pagina 14
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