Growing off-season potatoes with high technology yields 100 million VND per hectare

During the most recent production season, Kon Plong District Agricultural Service Center in Kon Tum Province successfully partnered with PepsiCo Group to conduct a trial planting of 10 hectares of off-season potato, grown from May to August in Mang Den Town, Kon Plong District. The agricultural service center also showcased the European technology-based potato cultivation process.

According to Pham Thanh, Director of the Kon Plong District Agricultural Service Center, PepsiCo Group supplied all of the potato seeds used in the trial crop. Accordingly, the group has provided disease-free, high-yielding, and high-quality seeds suitable for industrial processing. Furthermore, local farmers carry out the majority of the potato cultivation processes, such as soil preparation, fertilization, irrigation, weeding, and harvesting, using specialized machinery. As a result, only the collection and bagging of the tubers require manual labor.

The center has fully automated pest and disease control activities on the potato plants using drones. On the other hand, the center performed irrigation and fertilization through a drip system that delivered water and nutrients directly to the base of each potato plant. To combine irrigation and fertilization in the same drip system, the center imported specialized mineral fertilizers from Norway. These high-concentration fertilizers dissolve quickly, thereby preventing sediment and clogging in the irrigation pipes.

Due to the high altitude of the surrounding mountains, frost is a prevalent issue that can burn and destroy potato leaves. In response to this challenge, the center installed a network of sprinkler poles across the fields, which can automatically spray water to wash away frost from the potato plants when necessary.

The harvest results indicated a potato yield of 22 tons per hectare per crop. Additionally, PepsiCo Group pledged to purchasing the entire crop at a price of 12,000 VND per kilogram, resulting in a total revenue of 2.6 billion VND. After deducting investment costs, the center can enjoy a profit of over 100 million VND per hectare. Notably, the center applied 300 kilograms of lime powder, 1,000 kilograms of Van Dien fused phosphate, and 20,000 kilograms of composted organic fertilizer treated with Trichoderma antagonistic fungi (sourced from local dairy farms) to each hectare of potato plants. Due to the highly acidic soil, with a pH level of only 4.0, the center must apply sufficient lime to raise the soil pH level to 6.5 - 7.0.

Director of the Agricultural Service Center Pham Thanh noted that the center produced off-season potatoes at a relatively high air temperature level, which ranged between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. He also highlighted an unusually high amount of rainfall compared to previous years. As a result, the potato plants developed excessive foliage, leading to a lower-than-expected yield.

According to Le Thi Lien, Deputy Director of Kon Plong Agricultural Service Center, in order to secure a sufficiently large field for the off-season potato trial cultivation using European technology, the center borrowed land from local residents who were waiting for zoning plans. Subsequently, the center removed wild brush using bulldozers, and carried out the processes of soil preparation, ridge formation, furrow cutting, fertilization, planting, and cultivation using machinery.

The center is currently continuing its collaboration with local households and PepsiCo Group to launch the second potato crop on approximately 200 hectares. "This will be the main production season, occurring during the dry season with less rainfall and gradually decreasing air temperatures at an average of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for potato farming. Additionally, the potato fields are located near natural streams, facilitating the irrigation process. Consequently, the yield and quality of the potatoes will likely be significantly higher," Lien remarked.

PepsiCo Europe and Yara announced a long-term partnership in Europe aimed at providing farmers with crop nutrition programs to help decarbonize the food value chain.

As part of the partnership, which spans multiple countries, participating PepsiCo Europe farmers will be equipped with best-in-class crop nutrition products and advice as well as precision farming digital tools. This will allow them to increase nutrient use efficiency (NUE), boost yields and reduce the carbon footprint of their crops. Yara, the leading crop nutrition company in Europe, will supply PepsiCo with the products and services.