“Let’s feed all Transbaikalians”: how one of the potato production enterprises in Transbaikalia works
Food security for Transbaikalia is an obvious reality, and there are opportunities to create your own regional product. In the region this year it is planned to sow about 800 hectares of agricultural land with potatoes. Although the volumes lag behind the needs necessary for the region, but the farms working on the open ground are ready to embark on the rails of dynamic development. Anton Kalganov was convinced that the potential of the agro-industrial complex, in particular in the Karymsky district, is there!
Anton Kalganov, correspondent: “Here it is – the main seed. And in each of these boxes it can fit up to one thousand two hundred kilograms of potatoes, but all in all this storage, in which we are now, can accommodate up to a thousand tons of the already harvested crop.”
Not all agricultural enterprises can boast of such storage conditions.
Ekaterina Muravyova, head of the KFH: “Full ventilation is maintained here, air humidity is 75-80% in order to preserve all the potatoes. Now we have some potatoes left that go for sale, and here in these boxes all the seed material is stored, which is moved and goes for loading into cars and then to the fields for sowing.
- Now how much do you plan to sow potatoes?
- One hundred tons of seed. And three varieties of potatoes are stored here.”
With gentle names: Gala, Rosara, Natasha… but with a harsh character to match the climate of Transbaikalia. The most frost-resistant are the first to go to the barely warmed earth.
From the boxes – dive into the back of a truck using a front loader. The technology based on domestic ingenuity, of course, is not yet perfect.
Georgy Kondratyev, loader driver: “At the moment, we are loading it like this, but in the future we plan that the conveyor will deliver it there, initially, we are starting to expand.
- The front loader is not very convenient, probably a lot of time wasted?
- Time delays a little, but, of course, nothing, but the conveyor belt, time will be faster.
- In general, what are the working conditions here at the enterprise?
- Normally, no one complains.
- Worthy salary?
- Worthy. Bonuses even, we work normally, they give out bonuses, that’s all … “
Farmers are in a hurry: as soon as the earth warms up, and this happens more often in the second half of May, they immediately go to the fields.
Anton Kalganov, correspondent: “From edge to edge – 40 hectares of plowed fields. Right now the hottest time in every sense begins here – the time of planting potatoes! It is planned that from 10 to 12 tons of crops will be harvested from each hectare. And an important nuance – there is not an ounce of chemicals in this soil.”
The soil is loamy – requires a special approach. But for a zealous owner – and this is not a problem.
The four-row potato planter is loaded to capacity.
Anton Kalganov, correspondent: “We are now driving at a speed of about 4-5 kilometers on a Belorus tractor and there is a special device behind our back, in which there is about a ton of potatoes. And we will sow this distance of 700 meters, moreover, in automatic mode, about a ton of potatoes “.
Up to two and a half dozen flights can be performed per shift. The main task of the tractor driver is not to lose the furrow. To help ingenuity – a pipe with a chain for reference is fixed on the front of the machine. Of course, they dream of more modern technology, but with navigation equipment.
Aleksey Zhabinsky, tractor driver: “Normal equipment, but hunting is more powerful, the tractor would be more powerful, otherwise it doesn’t break, it’s okay, it’s comfortable.
- Never let you down?
- Not”.
The owner of the enterprise, Ekaterina Muravieva, dreams of modernization. In just three years, out of their two hectares of land, they have grown twenty times: they started working together with their husband, now there are already six workers. If the weather is favorable, they expect to get almost 700 tons of crops.
Ekaterina Muravyova, head of the peasant farm: “In order to increase productivity, increase profitability, the plans are up to five thousand tons, I would like to grow so many potatoes that the Trans-Baikal Territory does not need it.
- That is, to feed all the Transbaikalians, this is your task.
- Feed all Transbaikalians! And I want not only potatoes, but also vegetables, but it’s all expensive, of course, I would like to receive state support so that development goes faster. But, we are waiting for a positive result on our applications. A grant application has been submitted for the modernization of the complex. Now we are waiting for the result.”
The region has all the resources – both human and natural – in order to provide itself with products born in its native fields. And there is no need to worry about the food security of Transbaikalia, if the farmers are helped, – Ekaterina is sure. And the sanctions storm is easy to survive and turn in favor.
Ekaterina Muravyova, head of the KFH: “We are not going to give up, we are going to live, raise children in the Trans-Baikal Territory, of course, we are going to farm in the Trans-Baikal Territory, and we will invest everything that depends on us in our Trans-Baikal land. And therefore feed the baikal
