TRADE AND MARKET I NG Processing industry should open up the potato sector of Argentina group is becoming a team. This has the advantage that they’ll contact each other and discuss problems more easily when they’re back in Argentina. This is important, because once back home, these trainers will have to train eight new growers. And we’ve succeeded in doing this, which means that 72 growers now have more knowledge about the cultivation of potatoes. This ‘eight times eight’ method results in the transfer of knowhow on 40,000 hectares, which means that we’ve already reached half the total acreage during this project’, De Vries explains. ‘Another part of the project was to bring the practical training to a higher level. This is important because the workers of the future will receive their training here’, Oostewechel emphasises. Because there was no teaching material available, a Spanish basic manual was developed with the focus on the sector in Argentina, and of which 1,300 were printed. ‘We’ve worked closely together with Marcello Huarte, the local potato specialist of INTA, the potato research institute of Argentina’, Schepers says. ‘In order to get instruction about potato growing in the schools, we’ve approached both the Ministry of Agriculture and the schools themselves. We noticed that, at the Ministry the potato is low on their list of priorities. It’s from that perspective that we’ve decided to spend more time on the schools themselves. At ten schools in the DEBA area, we’ve distributed a total of five hundred booklets as teaching material which the teachers can use in their lessons. The trainers can also be used to help develop the lessons. They know the schools in their regions and can seek contact at grass-roots level. We noticed that many schools are growing their own potatoes and use them for the meals they give their students. The trainers were able to organise practical lessons straightaway’, De Vries explains. ‘In the three years that the project has been running, the study groups have developed a structure whereby it’s explained that more knowledge about the crop results in a better yield and therefore a better income’, Schapers says. It’s essential to develop knowledge One of the trainers is Martín Pérez of Sol del Este in the village of Otamendi. His business is specialised in the cultivation of potatoes. The company cultivates 450 hectares of potatoes in SEBA and another 200 hectares of consumption potatoes in the northern Tucomán. He supplies potatoes of the Innovator variety to Farm Frites and of the Atlantic variety to PepsiCo. In addition, he devotes half his ‘Knowledge is necessary to keep up with the expensive cultivation of potatoes´, says Martin Pérez. To increase the yield and lower the costs, it´s important that the development of knowledge continues in Argentina, according to Jochem Rover (r) and Federico Peralta Ramos. acreage to the Spunta variety which is destined for the table potato market. He also grows another 120 hectares of seed potatoes of the Innovator, Spunta and FL18-1876 varieties in the area around De la Garma. The season starts with selfproduced mini tubers of which the company produces 200,000 annually. Pérez tells me that he wants to stick closely to current technological developments by acquiring a lot of knowledge about technology and cultivation. The three weeks on the K2K programme in the Netherlands have helped him enormously to develop his knowledge, which he really wants to share. This is why he regularly teaches at the agricultural colleges in the surrounding areas. ‘Knowledge is necessary to keep up with the expensive cultivation of potatoes. The lease of the land already costs us 600 dollars a hectare, to which you can add 900 dollars for irrigation. The total cost price is 8,000 dollars per hectare’, Pérez explains. Planting lasts from mid October to the beginning of November, and harvesting starts from mid January. The French-fry varieties yield 50 tons per hectare. The crisp varieties yield no more than 45 tons and the Spunta up to 60 tons per hectare. He would like to increase the seed potato acreage. At this moment, he’s busy changing the cultivation of his seed. He’s Potato World 2016 • number 4 19 Pagina 18
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