Ukrainian potato cultivation professionalises CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY factory, for which Kraft has concluded contracts with Mriya. The price for the potatoes (Saturna) varies between 11 and 18 cents per kilogram. This variety yields on average 25 tons per hectare. The yields of the table potatoes, on the other hand, are between 35 and 52 tons per hectare. According to Nammensma, these yields could have been higher if there hadn’t been any overcropping in the past. This has led to a pH drop to a level of 4.5 in a large part of 21,000 hectares around the storeroom, which is even too low for potatoes. The organic matter content has also dropped considerably. It will require considerable effort to close the gap. As soon as this is back to normal, the yield will increase again, he tells us. Professional seed potato growing Moreover, Nammensma is responsible for the cultivation of 375 hectares of seed potatoes. He grows the seed professionally on suitable plots. This means that he keeps virus infections in check with insecticides and oil. The seed Mriya buys from Western Europe comes from the following varieties: Rivièra, Minerva, Romano, Bellarosa, Arrow, Kuras, Vinetta, Gala, Talent, Kuro, Santé, Aroza, Picasso, Romanze and Cosmos. He uses them as seed for two generations. The reason he grows so many varieties is that Nammensma is still searching for the best varieties for the region. ‘I would like to reduce that number to around ten, the French-fries varieties included.’ Important qualities of the new varieties he likes to test in practice are virus resistance, drought resistance, yield, good soil coverage, rapid initial growth and quick coverage, which is important to suppress weed growth as much as possible. What’s also very important is Phytophthora resistance. This is For the third year running, Willem Nammensma has been responsible for the entire 5.000 hectare potato cultivation at Mriya. because he sprays the potatoes at long intervals, which is standard practice. The reason for this long interval is that the Ukrainians want to keep the costs as low as possible. The idea is that low costs improve the financial results, Nammensma explains. Because of the rapid growth – a doubling of the acreage every year – it is budgetary constraints, among other things, that don’t allow for the unlimited use of chemicals. Handwork remains important Nammensma has the seed potatoes stored in self-made boxes and in a self-built store with a total storage space of 96,000 tons. The Dutch Tolsma company has supplied the ventilation system and the mechanical cooling. In the third year, Nammensma removes the smaller sizes from the seed potato lots which he then uses for the last time as planting stock for consumption potatoes in the fourth year. Mriya sells 100 percent of this last harvest as consumption potatoes. In addition to the French-fries industry, table potatoes are by far the biggest market. Nammensma has the potatoes packaged in 20 kg net bags. The weighing process is semi-automatic. Mriya deliberately chooses to hang the bags to the weigher manually. ‘Manual filling creates nice round bags which is very important for the presentation. Round bags look fuller than flat bags’, Nammensma tells us. ‘Also, manual labour is cheaper than machinery. The wages are 7 euros a day here, which means that the investing in one modern packaging machine, which costs 80,000 euros, could never be profitable, let alone that we’d need to buy 5 machines for the entire farm. Investment in starch factory The harvest always starts at the beginning of August at Mriya. Grimme holds the royal warrant for the machinery required. That is no surprise because the German manufacturer is Nammensma’s former employer. In total, he has twelve receiving hoppers, four four-row Tectron bunker lifters, five two-row Potato World 2012 • number 4 17 Pagina 16
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