Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
The perspectives of table grape in Crimea attracted a great number of participants to the international seminar conducted by the Agricultural Marketing Project
On August 5th 2005 Crimean office of the Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP) carried out the Field day on marketing, the perspective varieties and modern production technologies for table grape in Crimea. This event was held on the basis of Agro-Yukos LLC in village Roshchino, Dzhankoy rayon, AR Crimea. The topic of the seminar and Field day caused very big interest not only among Crimean farmers, the agricultural enterprises, the scientific and production organizations, but also their colleagues from other cities of the South of Ukraine: Odessa, Izmail, Kakhovka, Dnepropetrovsk. The representatives of Georgia, Italy, Russia participated actively in the seminar.
In total one hundred twenty four (124) persons took part in the seminar, among which there were 61 farmer, 11 scientific and scientific employees of National Centers of Science: the Institute of viniculture and wine production named after V.E.Tairov (Odessa), Nikitskiy botanical garden (Yalta), scientific-industrial center Reakom (Dnepropetrovsk), research-and-production enterprise Tavros, 6 representatives of mass media and TV, the specialists of 21 companies: Syngenta (Switzerland), Nufarm (Austria), FMS (USA), Bayer (Germany), Summit Agro Ukraine (Japan), Agro Chemical Center, Gaben LLC, A.I.K. Ltd (Israel), Technoservice LLC (Melitopol), Karden filial enterprise (Simferopol), Petruzalek (Austria), Dunapak LLC (Zhidachiv, Lviv oblast), and other organizations.
The participants of the seminar were very much concerned about the situation in viniculture of Ukraine. According to the information provided by Vladimir Yarmilka, the expert on agritechnologies of the Crimean AMP office, the candidate of agricultural sciences, 59 % of the table grape acreage in Crimea has no prospects, and the share of young plantings does not exceed 8%. At the same time the pleasant exceptions were pointed out. For example, Аgro-Yukos LLC without the state support, hoping only on itself, has managed to create a unique vineyard of new steady, superearly and early varieties of table grapes. Nikolay Choropita, the head of this enterprise, told in his report about how the enterprise was created, the newest domestic and foreign varieties and hybrids were tested. As a result, high-yielding varieties were selected, which combine the early terms of ripening alongside with a fine marketable looks, and disease resistance.
When the last year the first sets of grape bunches of super-early and early varieties were sold out hurriedly on Simferopol wholesale market; buyers did not believe, that this grape was produced in Crimea. As Nikolay noted, this year AMP has helped his enterprise to develop the corrugated board containers and a beautiful label due to what their table grape now looks, at least, not worse the best samples of a foreign grapes. The enterprise intends to increase the acreage of plantings and gradually to supersede imported grapes from the markets of Crimea.
To the opinion of the specialists of Crimean AMP office, the bright example of successful work of Аgro-Yukos LLC team has convinced many farmers and agricultural producers of Crimea and the South of Ukraine, that the reorientation of the farms from grain cultivation into a more profitable business - table grape production - is the thing of vital necessity. So not less than seven farmers, who participated in a seminar are planning to set up the similar vineyards in the near future in their farms.