Personal subsidiary plots continue to be the main producers of potatoes in Russia. “Private traders” are significantly ahead of agricultural producers in the organized sector. Such conclusions can be drawn based on the analysis of data obtained during the 2021 Agricultural Micro-Census (AMC-2021).
According to the preliminary data of the AHMP-2021, about 150,000 hectares were occupied with potatoes in agricultural organizations across the country last year. Farmers (peasant (farm) farms and individual entrepreneurs – ed.) have about 126 thousand hectares, and in private subsidiary plots of rural settlements throughout Russia – more than 500 thousand hectares. This is almost twice as much as organizations and farmers.
glavagronom.ruPhoto:glavagronom.ruPrivate farms continue to be the main potato producers in Russia.
Potato is a rather difficult crop from the point of view of the agrarian, requiring specific agricultural equipment, stable marketing and infrastructure for storage, says Dmitry Zavyalov, head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Logistics of the Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov.
“Private farms are still one of the main suppliers of vegetables from the so-called. “borscht set” on the tables of Russians. The share of household plots in the total output is gradually decreasing, but still remains at an average level of about 50% of the total production of vegetables. In fact, a significant part of such products goes to the own table of household plot owners, with the exception of those cases when the products are sold through markets and fairs. If we take into account the reduction in the number of rural residents, then less and less vegetables are also needed for a personal dinner table from household plots, because it is more convenient for urban residents to go to a supermarket,” the expert believes.
In his opinion, even despite the reduction in the total potato sown area in household plots, the overall indicators for potato production are not bad.
“As of mid-November 2022, more than 90% of the crop has already been harvested, which is about 7 million tons, which is 400 thousand tons more than last year. This allows us to say that the food safety indicator for the production of potatoes and vegetables in open ground is generally met,” Dmitry Zavyalov is sure.
According to the preliminary data of the SHMP-2021, agricultural organizations have the largest potato fields in the Bryansk region – in 2021, 19.7 thousand hectares were occupied with this crop. The second place is taken by the Moscow region: 11.3 thousand hectares. Then Nizhny Novgorod and Tula regions with almost identical indicators: 10.0 thousand hectares each.
Farmers planted the most potatoes in the Astrakhan region – 9.4 thousand hectares. In the Tula region, the sown area for potatoes amounted to 9.1 thousand hectares, in the Sverdlovsk region – 9.0 thousand hectares.
According to Rosstat for 2021, in the structure of agricultural production, households accounted for 21.8% of crop production and 30.4% in animal husbandry (in actual prices). In general, the share of households in the total volume of agricultural production in 2021 amounted to 25.4%. In actual prices, households produced products worth more than 1.9 trillion rubles. At the same time, households in 2021 accounted for 63.9% (11.7 million tons) of harvested potatoes and 51.3% of vegetables (6.9 million tons).
