There are about three dozen greenhouse complexes in Belarus. The technologie allows growing vegetables all year round. Crop productivity of the greenhouse plants has doubled over the last decade. Gross output for 2019 reached 123.8 thousand tons, which is 23 tons more compared to 10 years ago.
Greenhouse complex Berestye was built in the outskirts of Brest 25 years ago. It is a country leader in cucumber and tomato production. In 2018, they have implemented own non-substrate technology of growing plants. In short, the plants are grown in plastic sleeves, where they are fed with nutritious substances with the whole set of needed microelements. Specialists claim that as a result, the produce has the same qualities as the one grown in the open field.
According to the director of the complex, Mr. Nikolay Dolbik, the non-substrate technology annually brings over 400 thousand euro of savings and nature itself helps to save another 200 thousand euro.
“We use the warmth of the Earth, geothermal sources. We have a well in the premises, which provides the temperature of 25 degrees. We also use the water from it for watering in winter. It is very convenient and useful”, mentioned Mr. Dolbik.
The system circulates on the acreage of 20 ha and is connected with the boiler room. A part of the water is supplied to the containers and is further used for warming the greenhouses. As the result, own costs of vegetable production in the complex are the lowest in the country.
“In the past two years, the greenhouse acreage has tripled and the energy consumption has decreased by 1000 units of oil equivalent”, noted the chief electric engineer, Mr. Sergey Protulchik. “We continue repairing the boiler house and automating the production. As the result, energy consumption per kilo of vegetables in our greenhouse is lower than in German ones.”
In 2019, Berestye have produced 6.9 thousand tons of tomatoes and 2.5 thousand tons of cucumbers. The produce is supplied to the local market and neighboring countries. The complex also produces bell peppers, eggplants, lettuce: over 30 vegetable varieties. In addition, Berestye is beginning to engage in open field growing. Overall profit margin of the complex has reached 10%.
The greenhouse in Teplichny (the subsidiary of RUE Vetebskenergo) opened in 2017. Old constructions were replaced with contemporary energy efficient ones. The complex grows vegetables by Dutch technology. The energy consumption of gigacalories has decreased from 44.5 thousand to 11.3.
About 15% of warmth in the premises is saved thanks to the special shading system, regulating the temperature and humidity depending on the temperature outside. Moreover, an upper and lower heating system have been installed. New technologies have quickly given an economic effect: greenhouse production here used to be nonprofitable, while now the profitability has reached 3.4%.
“In 2019, we produced 1520 tons of open field vegetables and 2947 tons of greenhouse ones. We grow cucumbers, tomatoes and greenery in winter greenhouses. This year we are planning to achieve the overall result of 5400 tons and produce 3000 tons of cucumbers and tomatoes. With the account to the new situation and applied Dutch technology, we expect the productivity to reach 76 kilos per square meter”, shares chief economist, Ms. Tatiana Suvalova.
The construction in Teplichny allows the company to produce new vegetables in accordance with the market demand with little technological equipment replacement. In 2019, an investment project on frozen vegetables and berries of 7 million euro was carried out.
The greenhouses are of the fourth generation and production goes on all year round. The air entering the greenhouse is filtered in order to exclude dust, small harmful substances and pests. Computers automatically switch on the air-conditioners or open the shutters, if need.
LLC Rudakovo in Vitebsk region decided to lower the production cost by improving working with the chemical substances. Last year they built their own biolaboratory, which will allow reducing the costs of purchasing plant biological pest protection agents by 30-45%. In addition, the enterprise has repaired the production facility, stock and utility lines in correspondence with modern technologies.
Source: SB
