On the Don, areas under intensive type gardens are increasing

In the Rostov region, more and more enterprises are showing interest in the cultivation of fruit crops. The development of horticulture is largely possible thanks to state support. Last year, 22 Don enterprises were granted subsidies, which made it possible to plant young orchards on an area of ​​213 hectares, of which 168 hectares are under intensive technology. This was discussed at a meeting on the development of horticulture and fruit growing, which was held by the first deputy governor Viktor Goncharov in the Neklinovsky district.
“Given the policy of import substitution, as well as the existing need of residents of both our region and neighboring regions for high-quality fruit and berry products, the development of horticulture is one of the most important areas of agriculture,” Viktor Goncharov emphasized opening the event. - A big plus of the Don region is that our natural and climatic conditions make it possible to obtain high-quality fruit products that are competitive not only in the domestic, but also in the international market. It should be noted that in recent years there has been an interest of agricultural enterprises of the region in the development of the fruit and berry industry, new intensive-type orchards are being created.
One of these enterprises, Natalya Kurochkina's farm in the Rodionovka farm, Neklinovsky district, was visited by the participants of the meeting. The implementation of the project on laying perennial plantings using intensive technology has been underway here since 2011. Currently, the area under fruit plantations on the farm is almost 68 hectares, of which 48 hectares of APPLE and cherry trees have entered the fruiting stage. Over the past five years, farming has received almost 15 million rubles in subsidies.
According to representatives of the farm, the gross harvest last year amounted to about 1.5 thousand tons with an average yield of 310 c/ha. The company built a refrigerated warehouse with a controlled gas environment, a controlled atmosphere with an ultra-low oxygen content, for storing apples with a volume of 1200 tons, which allows you to store orchard products throughout the year without compromising quality and taste. The management of the enterprise plans to build a second refrigerated warehouse for storage of 1000 tons of apples.
At the meeting, it was also announced that last year young apple orchards were planted using the super-intensive technology of Zadonye LLC, Semikarakorsky district, on an area of ​​almost 44 hectares. In the Kuibyshev region, Rassvet LLC is successfully implementing a project to establish super-intensive orchards on drip irrigation - about 100 hectares of apple trees have been planted in a few years.
“With the right cultivation technology, intensive-type orchards begin to bear fruit at the age of three and give stable high-quality crops,” said the first deputy HEAD of the Rostov region. “Due to the fact that recently planted intensive and super-intensive orchards began to bear fruit in the region last year, the harvest of Don fruits and berries in agricultural enterprises and farms of the Don last year exceeded the figures for 2020 by more than 15% and amounted to 15.7 thousand tons” .
In general, according to the data of the Don Ministry of Agriculture and Food, in the Rostov region, the area under fruit trees in the fruiting age in agricultural organizations and farms is 3.6 thousand hectares, including 1.2 thousand hectares under stone fruit crops, 2.6 thousand hectares, berries - less than a thousand hectares.
Last year, thanks to state support funds, 213 hectares of young gardens were planted on the Don, which outweighed the plans by two times, maintenance work was carried out on 700 hectares of garden areas, and 22 hectares of old-growth gardens were uprooted.
According to the Don Ministry of Agriculture and Food, almost 100 million rubles have been allocated from the federal and regional budgets for the development of horticulture this year, which will also make it possible to plant new orchards on an area of ​​​​about 230 hectares, including 170 - for intensive technology.
As emphasized in the agricultural department, the rates of subsidies for laying gardens depend on the degree of their intensity and amount to about 30-40% of the total costs. At the same time, the laying of fruit nurseries, berry fields and the care of plantations before they start fruiting are subject to subsidies.
Also, horticultural enterprises of the region have the opportunity to receive state support to reimburse part of the costs of irrigation and drainage measures related to the construction and technical re-equipment of drainage systems, as well as to purchase drip irrigation tape or domestic agricultural equipment.