Alexander Kolodyazhny, Executive Director of KH “Kirby”, Chui region, Kyrgyz Republic:
– Our company was born in 1997 as a small shop for the production of chips. Now it is one of the leading companies in the republic specializing in the production and processing of potatoes.
During the crop rotation, we grow a number of crops that are in demand in the Central Asian market. Winter wheat covers an area of 500 hectares, perennial grasses – 200 hectares, triticale – 50 hectares, soybeans and oats – 30 hectares each. About 150 hectares are allocated for potatoes for processing and another 50 for its seeds. The average crop yield exceeds 40 tons per hectare.
We have no problems with the sale of tubers, since the entire grown volume is used as raw materials for our plant. Only two types of products are produced here: potato chips and straws. But I hope that in the coming years the range will be expanded. Our own professional sales team is engaged in distribution throughout Kyrgyzstan.
Of all the varieties offered by Western breeders, we choose the most suitable for processing, for example, Lady Claire. We have a license agreement with the company “Solana”, from which we also take the Opal variety, and its new Papageno variety is currently undergoing production testing.
Technological equipment, field and warehouse equipment for potato production in our farm are mainly represented by GRIMME solutions. We do not see any other options for the level of efficiency and reliability for ourselves yet. Thanks to Western technologies, potato storage capacities have also been created, which can be preserved from harvest to harvest without loss in quality. For example, the climatic equipment of the seed material warehouse from the German company Gaugele.
In our climatic zone, irrigation becomes a prerequisite for growing potatoes. Moreover, it is desirable that watering be mechanized, either by sprinkling, or drip. We have worked with both systems, but at the moment we have abandoned the “drop” due to its complexity and high cost. Over the past couple of years, we have been developing wide-ranging sprinkler machines for circular irrigation.
We solve the issues of obtaining high-quality seed material on our own. We buy seeds of high reproductions in Europe, and then propagate them in the conditions of the middle mountains, allowing us to comply with all the requirements required for this process.
Like farmers from other regions, we have to fight viral, fungal and bacterial diseases of potatoes. Of the pests, the Colorado potato beetle and all kinds of aphids cause the greatest problems in Kyrgyzstan. For plant protection, we use preparations from different manufacturers, including European, Russian, and Chinese.
We do not urge anyone to switch to our business model, abandon the production of marketable potatoes and grow only chips. It is clear that the technological approach to such a culture gives the manufacturer certain opportunities and competitive advantages. But first he will need a lot of investment and thorough market research. It is impossible to do without buying complex equipment that the domestic industry does not produce. But, on the other hand, there is no need to solve sales problems, incur losses due to low selling prices and compensate for costs by increasing production when the profitability of culture falls.
