July 25 2005, 18:47 Agrarian Marketing Project

This season the cucumber diseases are the main problem for the agricultural producers of Ukraine

The Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP) has already reported several times that this year the cucumber plantings were seriously damaged by diseases and pests. This information was confirmed by the increase of the purchase prices on the main fractions of cucumber from the side of the canneries, observed during the recent weeks. The price on this commodity has been increased today on Kyiv wholesale market. Despite of the price growth, many canneries still can not purchase the required cucumber volumes.

At the same time, the problem of cucumber diseases is becoming more acute. Many producers turn to Internet for help. For example, during one day about 30 companies read the information about the cucumber diseases published on the website of the Agricultural Marketing Project www.lol.org.ua . The quantity of the Internet inquiries about the cucumber protection from the diseases and pests is constantly growing; we see that it is difficult for the farmers to overcome the diseases.

Past year the same situation was observed with tomatoes, when most frequently the producers inquired the Internet about "Phytophthora blight". Twenty-thirty producers read this information daily on the website of the Agricultural Marketing Project a year ago.

The AMP Agronomists plan to publish soon the list of recommendations on cucumber disease control for the producers; the specialists of the regional offices have been already actively working with the client farmers, helping them to work out the effective methods for cucumber harvest salvation.