In Kazakhstan during winter, consumers face a choice between cheap but less tasty and expensive but tastier greenhouse vegetables.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Azat Sultanov and the head of the Ministry of Trade Arman Shakkaliyev emphasized that the market offers a wide range of vegetables, and the quality of a product is perceived subjectively.
Sultanov also highlighted the high quality of cucumbers grown in Kazakhstan and reported that the tomato varieties are the same as those in Uzbekistan, supplied by Dutch seed producers. According to him, the taste qualities of vegetables depend on the variety and cultivation methods, noting the shift from open-ground vegetables to greenhouse ones, which also affects the taste.
"There are categories, what their taste difference is: we have already moved away from open ground vegetables, where there is natural cultivation, which gives taste qualities, and we are moving to the consumption of greenhouse vegetables. Accordingly, there are hard varieties, they are somewhat tasteless but are in demand among the population. There are larger and fleshier ones - this is another variety of tomatoes, and their price category is higher. We need to compare specifically by varieties," he added.
Source: kz.kursiv.media