25 March 2022
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Smaller acreage could make produce market vulnerable
AN appeal has gone out to largescale growers in Moldova to reconsider plans to reduce their potato acreage, as the projected reduction will increase produce market vulnerability.
Leaders of the Association of Potato Growers of Moldova hope that large growers will reconsider plans to reduce their potato acreage this year.
Around 33% of all large farmers growing potatoes on dozens of hectares announced plans to partially switch to grain production last Autumn. However, seasonal droughts meant the total area of winter crops for the 2022 harvest dropped by almost 100,000 ha. There is hope that during the spring planting season, farmers will not reduce the area for planting potatoes and vegetables too much while focusing on sunflower and corn.
According to the association’s experts, the main constraint is that potato farms currently imported 20-30% less planting material than last year. Meanwhile, prices for seed potatoes in Poland and Romania are rising, and many Moldovan farmers will not risk increasing purchases. Moreover growers have stated that the weather conditions for sowing potatoes, at least early varieties, were ‘worse than the average norm’.
Source: east-fruit.com Photo: Ainur Khakimov
