TRADE AND MARKET I NG Italy: ideal testing ground for Dutch potato breeding ares. If you add up the thousands of potato fields here, then – according to Roncagli – you arrive at a total of 3,000 hectares. This is considerably less than 30 years ago, when the area was still 10,000 hectares. This decline in acreage doesn’t only apply to this region, but to the whole country. In 1990, the country still had more than 120,000 hectares of potato cultivation which, according to the latest official acreage figures of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), fell to just over 48,000 hectares in 2016. The fact that Italy is so popular as a trial country for Dutch breeding activities has to do with the varying climates and also the extreme weather conditions that Italy often has. With a distance of 1,200 kilometres from north to south, it is also an elongated country where the growth conditions can vary considerably from head to tail. Lower growers’ prices On the south coast in Puglia it is generally relatively dry in the growing season. The many spray heads of the sprinkler system that stick out of the potato crop, as well as the water tanks and adjacent sheds with water pumps, are evidence of this. According to Nico Giannuzzi, the Normally, most growers around Puglia irrigate their potatoes four to six times a year. Only this year is an exception, the water basins are still full According to grower Nico Giannuzzi (with cigarette), the cost price here is on average 8,000 euros per hectare, due to the use of irrigation. owner of the trial plot, most growers irrigate their potatoes four to six times a year. Only this year is an exception and not only in this part of the country, but almost throughout Italy, because the sprinkler system hasn’t been turned on yet. This is due to the exceptionally wet season. There has been frequent heavy rain ever since the start of the New Year. In Puglia, early planting normally starts at the beginning of January. The cultivation of table potatoes in the south of Italy is mainly aimed at early harvests. There are few if any storage facilities, so all potatoes are sold ex land. Due to heavy rainfall in January and February, most plots were only planted in midMarch or sometimes even later, which is disappointing for the growers. The harvest was, in fact, due to start at the end of May, but that’s not really happening yet in this region, says Giannuzzi. Only a few will harvest early, probably in the first week of June, and then the estimated yield is around 35 tons per hectare at an expected price of 30 euros per 100 kilograms. Trader Roncagli reckons that this price won’t be much higher, normally it’s around 50 euros per 100 kilograms at the beginning of June. The Italians have to contend with the ever-present competition from abroad, especially from France. That’s where a lot of good-quality, old harvest came from last season at dump prices and, in the meantime, there’s already a new harvest due. But, the majority of growers in southern Italy can only start harvesting fully in midJune, which is too late for most first-early potato growers to get more than the cost price. According to grower Giannuzzi, the cost price here is on average 8,000 euros per hectare, due to the use of irrigation. New varieties should provide a solution In order to ensure that the yield exceeds the cost, the growers are trying to increase the kilogram yield per hectare with new varieties with, on average, only a few hectares of potato land in a maximum rotation of 1 to 2. Not only the yield per hectare should increase, but also the quality, because competition from the French, among others, plus old and new pests and diseases are lurking. And that also explains the presence of the Dutch breeding results, with which Potato World 2018 • number 3 27 Pagina 30
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