The use of drip irrigation has significantly improved farmers in Kyrgyzstan their ability to produce onions, says Abdykerimov Eldiar, owner of Agroplant: “The onion production in Kyrgyzstan is seeing similar levels as last year. I think last year the harvest was slightly larger, but not by much. In Kyrgyzstan, farmers have started to use drip irrigation, which changed the playing field for them, as yield rose to 70 to 90 tons per hectare. On top of that, acreage for onions has increased by more than 50 per cent over the last five to six years.”
Agroplant has already exported their onions to Europe in the past, and they would like to increase their exports to the continent, Eldiar explains. “We’re eying Europe as an export market for our onions, as I have experience of sending these products to the EU. We did so in the season of 2018-19. Actually, we also import potato seeds, E class, from the Netherlands. As such, we’ve worked with the EU market from 2017-18. It’s a very interesting market for our exports. This isn’t always an easy market to export to, however. The biggest challenges is the very long distance between EU and Kyrgyzstan, when we load a truck with produce, it takes two weeks to reach its destination. If all borders are smooth going, sometimes we can make it in ten days.”
Lower demand has resulted in lower prices for onions, and prices in Russia and other neighbours of Kyrgyzstan are lower as well: “The prices for onions this season are cheaper than last year. This is due to demand not being high in our neighbours. We export onions to this Russia, but prices over there are cheaper than usual. Probably due to a high yield of onions in Russia this year, as well as the increase in acreage in 2023. This isn’t just the case for onions, potatoes see a similar trend as well,” Eldiar concludes.
For more information:
Abdykerimov Eldiar
Agroplant
Tel: +99 655 6810 100 (mobile)
Email: [email protected]