The demand for sweet potatoes in Ukraine is rising faster than supply can keep up. Farmers note that the crop sells out almost immediately after harvest.
Ivan Pavlish, farmer and founder of the brand Batatko, says his farm cultivates sweet potatoes using organic methods, without pesticides, mineral fertilizers, or glyphosate. Instead, manure is used for soil nutrition, and every harvest is tested for nitrates. The farm is now in talks with Organic Standard to receive official certification.
"Our sweet potatoes don't stay in storage; we sell the entire harvest as quickly as possible. Some days we receive 50–60 orders. If you multiply that by 3–5 kg each, it's really large volumes. That's why there are strong reasons for scaling up," Pavlish explains.
This year, planting was delayed, so harvesting is expected to start in early October, and then fresh sweet potatoes will become available on the market.
According to Pavlish, Ukrainian growers cannot achieve the 40 t/ha yields sometimes mentioned in reference sources. With organic production and local soil conditions, the farm expects around 10 t/ha, of which roughly 6 tons are marketable. The rest is used as planting material or donated as animal feed to the shelter for rescued animals in Lviv.
Source: kurkul.com