In Ukraine, the areas for sweet potatoes are constantly expanding, although now they are only about 100 hectares.

Tatiana Ivchenko, researcher at the Institute of Vegetable and Melon Growing of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences (Merefa, Kharkiv region), spoke about the prospects for the development of industrial production of sweet potatoes in Ukraine.

According to her, at the institute, on experimental plots, new varieties of sweet potatoes are created, which will be adapted to the conditions of Ukraine, they are studying effective methods of propagation of planting material (clone selection), mineral nutrition regimes and the place of culture in crop rotation, and also studying how the weight of sweet potatoes changes under storage time.

“Potatoes are traditionally grown in Ukraine. The idea to replace it with sweet potatoes came about as people's lifestyle changes – they move less, work less physically, sports and healthy eating are becoming popular. It is the interest in healthy food that sparks interest in sweet potatoes. The demand for culture is growing not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe, in China. In addition, the climatic changes of the last decade and selection developments in various countries for the creation of early maturing forms have made it possible to expand the area of ​​this crop, previously traditionally grown exclusively in a tropical climate. Therefore, there is a group of sweet potato varieties that can be grown in Ukraine. These are mid- or early-maturing varieties,” Ivchenko said.

She noted that sweet potatoes can be grown in any region of Ukraine. This crop is very popular for the private sector. But summer residents mainly grow old varieties of fodder purposes, with red skin, white or cream inside, well adapted to the soil and climatic conditions of Ukraine. And although these varieties provide a good harvest, they are not of interest to the market: neither restaurants, nor supermarkets. However, such varieties are popular with gardeners because they are easy to grow and, like any type of sweet potato, are useful and suitable as a dietary product for people with diabetes. Since not everyone can afford to regularly buy a product at a price of 90-100 hryvnia per kilogram, people grow sweet potatoes for their own consumption.

“If we talk about industrial production, there is a demand on the market for yellow and purple sweet potatoes. Purple varieties can be effectively grown only in the south of Ukraine, since they are more thermophilic. Sweet potatoes do not withstand low temperatures at all. We plant after the last frost in the spring and harvest in September, before the autumn frost. Thus, the growing season in the northeast, in the Kharkiv region, is 4 months. In the south, in the Kherson region, for example, it lasts 5 months. In tropical climates, the crop can grow for six months, but we are limited to a frost-free period. Commercially attractive sweet potato varieties should be grown in the southern regions of Ukraine. Therefore, now this culture is popular in the Nikolaev, Odessa, Kherson regions. In these regions there are industrial plantations (several tens of hectares each),” Ivchenko notes.

According to the scientist, the yield of sweet potatoes varies greatly – from 40 to 100 tons per hectare.

“A higher yield can be obtained in the southern regions of the country. But even these 40 or 100 tons are the total harvest, there is only a certain part of the marketable sweet potato. It is worth noting that there are difficulties in harvesting sweet potatoes, since its physiologically young root tubers are often damaged at this stage. This is due to the fact that soils in Ukraine are heavier than in tropical regions, where sweet potatoes are traditionally grown,” says Ivchenko.

Because of this, varieties in which root tubers grow closer to each other are becoming popular in Ukraine, which allows mechanical harvesting of the crop.

“Only from next year in the Register of Plant Varieties of Ukraine will be entered two varieties of sweet potatoes, created at the Institute of Vegetable and Melon Growing UAAS. By this time, sweet potatoes were actually "outlawed" in Ukraine,” the expert notes.

Agro-business