Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Nikolay Oleynik shares the experience of the effective apple production and marketing
On the 15th of September 2005 Cherkasy office of the Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP) conducted a practical seminar, aimed to share the advanced experience of apple production and marketing. The seminar was held on the basis of Yabluneviy Sad farm, village Shevchenkovo, Zvenigorod rayon, Cherkasy oblast. The farm is one of the leading apple producers in the region.
The event exited interest not only among the orchardists of Cherkasy oblast; the people from Crimea, Kyrovograd, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Kyiv oblasts and even Moldova were among the participants. It is understandable, cause Nikolay Oleynik, the Chief of Yabluneviy Sad farm is well known as one of the leading orchardists of Ukraine.
Nikolay Oleynik started his way as orchardist on a house plot; he grafted tall-growing apple varieties. In 1999 the farmer set up Yabluneviy Sad farm; the first practical achievements made him dig deeper into the orcharding secrets. He wished to study the modern orchard technologies, so focused attention on theory. At the same period the Department of Fruit and Grape production, Uman Agrarian Academy, started to research new orchard management technologies, which helped Mr. Oleynik much.
Together with the theory Mr. Oleynik discovered the practice of the intensive orcharding technologies in Poland, Netherlands, and Hungary. Under the support of the Agricultural Marketing Project he learned the experience of the produce marketing in the USA in April 2004.
Today the total acreage of the intensive orchard comprises 5.25 ha in the farm. The intensive technologies are impossible without irrigation, and it is installed throughout the orchard. The orchard's yield in 2003 was 42 tons per ha, in 2003 - 50 t/ha, 2004 - 40 t/ha. To our regret, in 2005 the yield will be much lesser because of hail that injured 70% of fruit.
The practice proves that even managing a medium-size orchard you will need the respective conditions to store the harvest. That's why Mr. Oleynik constructed a cold storage per 100 tons; he plans to extend it to 200 tons in the future. The main problem of stable and optimal sales markets is solved due to the assistance of the AMP specialists. Since the end of 2003 the farmer has been selling apples through the supermarkets of Cherkasy due to AMP support.
It is very pleasant that the practical experience of Yabluneviy Sad farm is shared with the other orchardists of the oblast and outside. This undertaking is supported by the AMP's seminar conducted annually in the farm, including three seminars held by the other organizations jointly with AMP office. The Association of the intensive orcharding development in Cherkasy oblast works actively here too; there are 40 orchardists, both scientists and apple producers. The students of Uman State Agrarian university are trained on the basis of the farm, as they can obtain there valuable practical skills and adopt the experience of the qualified orchardist.
Talking about the event, traditionally the AMP seminar consisted of two parts - demonstrational and theoretical. During the demonstration the participants were able to study apple tree nursery, get information about the modern technologies of new apple varieties production, drip irrigation application, the peculiarities of sales and cold storage of the marketable apples. The farmers, the private agricultural producers, other seminar participants had an opportunity to study the methods of work, consult with Mr. Oleynik and other specialists, exchange own experience with the colleagues. Each participant of the seminar obtained the training materials on the modern apple production technologies, the trends in fruit marketing, the contact information of the market players.
In total about 104 persons took part in the event, including 77 farmers, the representatives of Syngenta, Gaben, Terra Ltd. companies, the manager of SPAR supermarket, and also the local authorities and AMP specialists.
The impressions of the participants: Oleg Kuripko, Zubr farm: "The seminar is very interesting both from the theoretical and the practical side of view. In particular, we received the valuable information and communicated with the scientists and farmers, who manage good apple tree nurseries. 10 ha of orchard are set up in our farm, but we are not going to stop on it. We are negotiating with the producers to purchase transplants of the modern apple varieties."
Vladimir Butrik, Butrik farm: "I've got a 1 ha orchard in my farm, and a small nursery. I am going to apply the obtained knowledge on practice in order to implement the modern technologies of the perennials' production."
The Field day materials and other information related to the produce growing and marketing can be always inquired in Cherkasy office per tel: (0472) 63-15-10 and (0472) 63-17-38 or e-mail: [email protected]. The manual on all the Field days conducted by AMP will be distributed among the participants of the second international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2005" to be conducted on December 5th-7th 2005 in Kyiv.