The Ministry of Agriculture of Stavropol summed up the results of the vegetable season. As part of ensuring food security, Governor Vladimir Vladimirov set the task of making vegetable production one of the priorities of the regional agricultural industry.
Vegetable records
In total, 27 agricultural organizations and 173 peasant farms are engaged in the production of vegetables on the open ground in Stavropol. In addition, almost two dozen farms and forty farmers specialize in growing potatoes. This season, more than 123 thousand tons of open-ground vegetables and 140 thousand tons of “second bread” have been harvested. The leading positions in gross collection are occupied by Ipatovsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Kirovsky, Foothill, Budennovsky districts. By the way, our region is more than one hundred percent provided for such crops as onions, tomatoes, cucumbers – taking into account the protected soil.
The average yield of several crops this year compared to last year has increased, for example, carrots – by 67 percent, to 283 quintals per hectare. The areas have also increased. Under potatoes – by six percent. Its maximum yield was obtained in LLC Agrofirma Zolotaya Niva of the Krasnogvardeysky District – 430 quintals per hectare. This season, a record harvest of vegetables has been received here – 38 thousand tons. The same agricultural enterprise is among the leaders in the yield of vegetable crops – 725 quintals per hectare, which is significantly higher than the average regional result.
The vegetable storehouse in the village of Pregradnoye of this agricultural enterprise of the Krasnogvardeysky district is one of the largest in the region. It holds 35,000 tons of vegetable products and is equipped with lines for part-time work, sorting, washing and packaging. Potatoes, onions, carrots are packed in bags and a grid from one to 25 kilograms. The capacity of packaging lines is up to 20 tons per hour.
A great help for vegetable growers of the farm is the development of land reclamation with state support, thanks to which they receive such high yields. The investment project “Irrigated vegetable growing” is being implemented here. The total area of irrigation is more than two thousand hectares.
– Both the governor of Stavropol Vladimir Vladimirov and the government of the region pay great attention to ensuring food security of the region, – said the first deputy head of the agrofirm Viktor Mamaev. – We, in turn, are aimed at serious development of animal husbandry, plant growing and vegetable growing. We have been actively following this path for the last few years. All vegetable products will be sold before the beginning of the next season. We have stocks, so we won’t stay without borscht. Next year we plan to expand the vegetable assortment, introduce table beets into the crop rotation in order to fully provide the population of the region, as they say, with the entire borscht set.
Show the product face
The vegetable storehouse carries out the initial preparation of vegetables for sale, if necessary, they are washed, calibrated, sorted, packed and stored, which is very welcome today by large retail chains. The company’s products are distributed throughout the country all year round. The harvesting of vegetables has been completed quite recently, and here they are already thinking about next year’s harvest, forming the necessary seed base for it.
– As for potato seed material, we provide ourselves with it by 85 percent, we have already laid for spring sowing, – said Alexey Podkolzin, the head of the vegetable storehouse. – We buy the remaining part in the Leningrad, Novogorod, Pskov regions and other regions. But for small-seeded crops, primarily carrots, the situation is a little more complicated, since their seeds mostly have to be purchased abroad. Nevertheless, there is already an agreement on the volumes for the 23rd year, they have already been contracted. So as a result, we will be fully provided with the seed fund next spring.
Every year, the range of state support measures for agricultural producers is adjusted and supplemented depending on the challenges of the time, the Ministry of Agriculture of the region noted. So, starting next year, as part of a new federal project for the development of vegetable and potato growing, according to preliminary information from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Stavropol Region can receive more than 173 million rubles from two levels of the budget.
In the new year, a separate priority program for the development of vegetable growing will be allocated, which will include a set of state support measures that are attractive to vegetable growers in the region. These include support for the production of potatoes and vegetables of open ground, unrelated support in the field of vegetable growing, the production of protected ground vegetables produced using the technology of additional illumination, support for elite seed production of potatoes and vegetable crops of open ground.
Potatoes and carrots under irrigation
And this year, within the framework of the state program of the Stavropol Territory “Development of Agriculture”, more than 98 million rubles were allocated to reimburse part of the costs to producers of open-ground vegetables. Farmers engaged in potato cultivation were allocated over 20 million rubles in the form of subsidies. On behalf of the Governor Vladimir Vladimirova, the agrarians received these funds ahead of schedule, the regional agrarian department noted. 78 agricultural producers, including 72 farms, were on the list of recipients of this type of state support. And over 442 million rubles have been allocated for these purposes in three years.
– Today, it is difficult to imagine the production of open–ground vegetables and potatoes without the use of irrigation systems, – Elena Tambovtseva, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the UK, is convinced. – The governor of the region is currently aiming to increase the reclaimed land occupied by vegetable crops and potatoes. The state focuses on supporting agricultural producers engaged in the production of vegetable crops on irrigation.
As you know, Stavropol is in the zone of risky farming, because weather conditions, as well as economic performance indicators, are increasingly forcing farmers, especially vegetable growers, to think about land reclamation, the Ministry of Agriculture of the UK notes.
One of the illustrative examples is the Budyonnovsky district. An important factor here is government support, which involves significant cost recovery. Over the past five years, more than four and a half thousand hectares of irrigated land have been put into operation in the district. Such farms as JSC SHP “Tersky”, LLC “Agro-enterprise “Praskoveiskoye”, vegetable and fodder crops are grown on the commissioned areas, perennial plantings with drip irrigation are planted.
Investments in fruit and vegetable storage
More than seventy modern irrigation installations are operating in the Agroinvest agricultural enterprise of the Ipatov city district due to the implementation of an investment project for intensive cultivation of agricultural crops using irrigation. The farm also grows potatoes. Farmers use modern irrigation methods, the main advantage of which is high quality irrigation, low water losses and maximum automation of the process, the ability to configure via remote access, for example, using a smartphone.
– The development of the reclamation complex is a task that has been designated a priority by Governor Vladimir Vladimirovich for the agro–industrial complex of the region, – emphasizes Elena Tambovtseva. – Irrigation projects with state support are implemented annually within the framework of the Stavropol Territory state program “Development of Agriculture”. This year, more than 521 million rubles from the federal budget and more than 12 million from the regional budget are provided for these purposes. The funds were brought to four agricultural producers of the region in full. Irrigation projects have been commissioned at ten sites, and more than ten more are under implementation with a total area of almost eleven thousand hectares.
The regional agrarian department notes that the annual increase in the gross harvest of fruit and vegetable products requires the introduction of new storage capacities, because, for example, 60 percent of the harvest of late varieties of apples are sent to fruit storage facilities. The total capacity of potato and vegetable storages in the region is 138 thousand tons. Currently, the main share of vegetables put into storage is in LLC “Dobrovolnoye” Ipatovsky city district and LLC “Agrofirma “Zolotaya Niva” Krasnogvardeysky district, potatoes – in Ipatovsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Foothill, Budennovsky districts.
This year, two fruit storage facilities were put into operation in the Budennovsky and Georgievsky districts, and the capacity of fruit storage in the Izobilnensky district was increased. At the same time, one of the main priorities in vegetable growing and horticulture in the future is the creation of a full production cycle – from laying gardens and harvesting to subsequent storage and sale of products.
In this direction, state support is provided for agricultural enterprises – reimbursement of part of the direct costs incurred aimed at creating and modernizing the facilities of the agro-industrial complex, Elena Tambovtseva recalled. The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia this year selected five investment projects of the Stavropol Territory, which are planned to be subsidized in the near future.
It is expected that next year, within the framework of the state program of the Stavropol Territory “Development of Agriculture”, financial support for land reclamation and vegetable growing will increase. For example, twice as much budget funds will be allocated for the development of the second direction than this year.
Tatiana SLIPCHENKO
A source: https://stapravda.ru
