Potato was brought to Serbia by Dositej Obradovic at the beginning of the First Serbian Uprising. Previously having been grown on 70.000 ha, in 2010 it covered only 35.000 ha, out of which 15-20% are production of early potato and mostly in regions near Leskovac and Cacak.
In production of early potato most common varieties are: Riviera, Carrera, Liseta, Arnova and Adora (white), Cleopatra and Amarosa (red). In production of commercial potato for autumn-winter consumption dominating varieties are Desire, Condor, Aladin (red), Agria and Kennebec (white). Average production of early potato is 30-35 t/ha and 25 t/ha for late commercial potato.
700 ha of seed potato have been grown in Serbia lately, categories original and first reproduction, from the basic seed (elite category) mostly imported from the Netherlands from biggest world producers of seed potato, companies HZPC and Agrico.
Company HZPC is one of the biggest world companies for production of seed and commercial potato, participating with 40% of overall Holland production and exporting the seed to more than 70 countries. Most prominent varieties of this producer are: Desire, Carrera, Liseta and Cleopatra.
Company Agrico, with HQ in Emmeloord, is the biggest Holland company for production of potatoes. Cooperative organization with around 1.500 cooperatives produces 1.000.000 t of potatoes annually. 14.000 hectares out of them yield 400.000 t of seed potato annually which are then exported to 85 countries throughout the world.
Biggest producers of seed potato in Serbia, and at the same time Agromarket’s suppliers, are Seme Golija from Raska, Agros Trade from Uzice, Solanum komerc from Guca and Pranjanac from Pranjani.
More information on potato varieties from HZPC and Agrico at www.hzpc.com and www.agrico.nl