March 13 2006, 12:03

Potato production without equipment will be profitless in 2006

To the opinion of the subscribers of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal potato production will be unprofitable this year, if no agricultural equipment is applied. A significant part of small farmers and private producers still practice growing potato without any machinery for sale on freshmarket.

In connection of the significant cost growth for main technological elements, especially price increase on seed potato, the production cost for one kilo of potato can jump up to $0.17-0.2/kg even in the main production regions, if no equipment is applied. Equipment let farmers decrease production cost down to $ 0.04-0.06/kg; of course, rather large volumes should be produced.

Past week we reported that it is rather difficult to buy seed potato now in Ukraine. The production decreased much past year, the product was partially damaged by January frosts, and the demand grew much at the same time. Many entrepreneurs and farmers try to import quality seed potato by own means. Russia, Belarus, Poland, some other countries have lower prices on seed potato compared to Ukraine. We'll remind that the detailed forecast of potato production and prices in 2006, as well as for other vegetables and fruits will be published in April issues of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal.