TRADE AND MARKET I NG Processing industry should open up the potato sector of Argentina Most Argentinian growers cut the seed by hand. ring rot at a local grower’s premises, the border was closed for the import of seed potatoes. The inspection service SENASE, comparable with the Dutch General Inspection Service for Agricultural Seed and Seed Potatoes in the Netherlands, has been trying to determine the source for the past three years. Extensive research in the Netherlands has not shown any infections. Last year, SENASE asked the Netherlands to find a solution. During their visit to the Netherlands, the Argentinian delegation extensively studied the Dutch inspection system. Moreover, the Argentinians want to know for certain if their own inspection system is sound. Further to the visit and the internal research, a report of findings is currently being drawn up in which subsequent steps will be defined. This can be either that the borders remain closed, or that only in-vitro material can be imported, or mini tubers, or perhaps even seed import can be restarted. The fact that the borders are closed also means that no new varieties are allowed to enter the country at the moment. Non-registered cultivation Looking at the current Argentinian seed potato sector, it seems that 35 specialised growers harvest 100,000 tons of seed potatoes from 4,000 hectares every year. Huub Schepers, Marcello Huarte, Sicko de Vries and René Oostewechel train the trainers via the K2K project. The total demand for the 80,000 hectares that are annually cultivated is 200,000 tons, however. This means that 100,000 tons, or 5,000 hectares are not registered, with all the obvious consequences such as disease and therefore a lower quality of seed. ‘The challenge is to certify the entire seed potato acreage’, Carosella emphases. ‘What you see now is that the top of the market already harvests top quality and has a good return from the improved seed potato cultivation. The layer below these professionals is going to profit from this. They will learn and get all that knowledge for free’, he points out. Train the trainer An important part of the 2g@there programme is the transfer of knowledge. It’s important that the Argentinian growers themselves accept the change-over to modern technology in order to increase the quality level in the chain. To achieve this, in 2013, in addition to the GITAHpapa project, the K2K transfer of knowledge was started. The project received a budget of 450,000 euros for this. Organisations that collaborated were Wageningen UR, the Aeres Knowledge Institute in Dronten and the consultancy firm Agriment in Twello. From a preliminary study that Agriment carried out in 2013 it transpired that there wasn’t a great deal of knowledge in the domain of potato cultivation. The schools which train the farm workers for these businesses don’t offer courses in the cultivation of potatoes. “These are wonderful opportunities to bring more knowledge into the sector”, René Oostewechel of Agriment explains. Within the project, Huub Schepers of Wageningen UR and Sicko de Vries of the Aeres Group have a dual perspective. The first is to train eight growers to become trainers. These are motivated potato growers or employees of the bigger companies. ‘This group of companies often set an example within the sector and because of the bigger acreages of the company, you can make major advances faster’, Schepers explains. At the start of the project, the trainers from all the potato growing areas in Argentina were sent to the Netherlands for three weeks of training, to get acquainted with the Dutch potato sector, and to learn about the working method in the potato chain in Western Europe. ‘We’ve shown them all the ins and outs of the chain, but we’ve also explained how to set up study groups, and how to transfer knowledge in a proper way’, De Vries explains. ‘In addition to the development of their knowledge, you also see that the Potato World 2016 • number 4 17 Pagina 16
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