The collection of young potatoes has begun in Kabardino-Balkaria. The culture is grown in all regions of the republic, even in the highlands. This season was moderately hot and humid, so the harvest turned out to be rich, according to MIR 24 correspondent Marina Sasikova.
Tubers one to one: large, selected. Mountain potatoes show high yields. Hundreds of pickers have been out in the fields since five in the morning. Work lasts until midday heat. During this time, each team manages to collect up to 10 tons of crops.
“We work in the field, I have 14 people. We calibrate the first and second grade. The first variety is large potatoes, the second variety is slightly smaller,” says potato picker Marziyat Ashrapova.
“Potatoes are perfect. We fried it, even made dumplings. She’s great. It’s easy to collect. People are happy, they receive wages immediately. Even the sweat does not have time to dry before I get the money,” says potato picker Ruslan Koblukaev.
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Early potatoes are harvested in all regions of the republic. In the highlands, the culture is reliably protected from its main enemy – peach aphids and other diseases. At altitude, pests and fungi do not survive.
“In this case, potatoes grow in an ecologically clean place, there is mountain air. We can provide an early harvest of our fresh potatoes earlier than foreign suppliers,” says Konstantin Crispin, a representative of the agricultural company.
Potatoes are almost never treated with chemicals. Watered with spring water that flows under the plantations. Trucks directly from the field take the crop for sale. Even on the shelves of the northernmost regions of the country, potatoes from Kabardino-Balkaria will appear in five to seven days.
“Of course, we are trying to replace imported products by growing our own, increasing our own production. Our potatoes go to the markets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Siberia. We have direct contracts with chains,” Konstantin Crispin, a representative of the agricultural firm, shares.
For a kilogram of potatoes, farmers are asking from 18 rubles. In markets and shops, the amount already varies significantly: from 30 to 80 rubles per kilogram, depending on the variety and size of tubers.
In total, more than 200 thousand tons of potatoes will be harvested in Kabardino-Balkaria this year. Two-thirds of this volume falls on small farms and private households.
