Agricultural facility Yuzhnuy in the Russian republic Karachaevo-Cherkessia, last year started the experimental production of eggplants. They harvested 569 tons of 3 ha with the average productivity of 16.7 kilo per square meter, the company announces. This year 12 ha have been allocated for eggplants. “We are planning to harvest 2.24 thousand tons and increase productivity to 18.7 kilo per square meter due to the enhanced crop rotation”, mentioned the representative of Yuzhnuy. In all, the greenhouse complex have harvested over 41 thousand tons of vegetables, and gross output is expected to reach 47 thousand tons this year.
Agricultural holding Moskovsky is actively engaged in eggplant production: they have allocated 11 ha for different varieties, the crop amounts to 2.6 thousand tons. “Traditional purple eggplants are gradually being replaced by new interesting varieties that we implement: white ones, Graffiti and Beef varieties”, commented the head of marketing department of the agricultural holding, Ms. Olga Kuzmitskaya. “We are currently experimenting with four eggplant varieties in the so-called test fields, the crop is not planned to be sold. We employ real professionals, including DScs, which allows us conduct experiments on a high level and properly evaluate the final results.” According to Ms. Kuzmitskaya, the agricultural holding is planning to increase the gross output of eggplants, considers their production profitable and notices the demand for the produce.
With that, the Fruit and Vegetable Union have not noticed a growth of investors’ interest to the eggplant greenhouse production. “The matter is that it is more profitable to grow cucumbers and tomatoes these days, their productivity is a lot higher than that of the eggplants”, explained the director of the Union, Mr. Mikhail Glushkov. “Greenhouse complexes care for the price/productivity ratio. In relation to cucumber, it comprises on average 100 kilos per square meter, 60 kilos per square meter for tomatoes and 25 kilos per square meter for eggplants. Consequently, it is profitable to grow eggplants only on the condition that in winter the eggplants cost four times more than cucumbers but at the moment there is no such gap between the vegetables”, added Mr. Mikhail Glushkov.
In general, investors are considering eggplant greenhouse production but since their productivity is lower, the owners of the greenhouse complexes give preference to more commercially successful vegetables, underlines the general director of Technologii Rosta company, Ms. Tamara Reshetnikova. “That is why we believe that until the local producers close the market need for tomatoes, they would give preference to them and not to eggplants”, considers the expert.
Eggplants in Russia are mostly grown in the open field and growers meet own demand within the summer period. However, as the storage terms are limited, in winter and spring the supermarket shelves are full of imported produce. “The share of import in the overall consumption amounts to 95%”, adds Mr. Gluskov. “The eggplants are mainly imported from Belarus, Iran, China and Turkey”.
There is no official statistics as for the eggplant production, therefore the volumes both in the greenhouses and in the open field are difficult to assess, mentions Ms. Reshetnikova. In accordance with the assessment by Technologii Rosta, no more than 4 thousand tons of eggplants are produced in the greenhouses, while the import amounts to 70 thousand tons. Eggplants are mainly imported to Russia in December-May inclusive and in summer there is almost no imported produce as it cannot compete with the local one, specified Ms. Reshetnikova.
As for the production technologies, eggplants are not more difficult to grow than tomatoes and yet it is a novice for most of the greenhouses, therefore the technology needs to be tested, concludes Ms. Reshetnikova.
Source: agroinvestor.ru.