Over $2m to be spent to build agrobiotech park in Tatarstan’s Laishevo District

The agrobiotech park to be built in four stages

As Realnoe Vremya found out, 164,8 million rubles will be spent to build an agrobiotech park in Tatarstan’s Laishevo District. An agrobiotech laboratory, a storage area, agricultural machinery repair shop and a service unit will appear there.

50,000 square metres of land parcel was allocated to build the agrobiotech park where it is planned to plant and store potato seeds, grains and greenhouse crops.

According to its documentation, the construction is done in four stages. The first is to create grain and potato storehouses, a thousand tonnes each, a mineral fertiliser warehouse for 50 tonnes, a firefighting pump house, two clean water reservoirs, a gas distribution plant and technical check point.

At the second stage, it is planned to build a storage area and agricultural machinery repair shop, car washing with recycling water supply and a tent for agricultural machinery storage. At the third stage, an administration and laboratory building will appear. At the final stage, there will be a greenhouse on an area of 567 square metres and a service unit.

The parcel is divided into five areas — an area of warehouses, storage and machinery maintenance, administration and laboratory, greenhouses and auxiliaries. Trees, bushes and perennial plants will be planted on the territory that’s free from buildings. A fence from corrugated galvanised iron will be erected on the perimeter of the technopark’s territory. The project plans to have three entrances with gates. The main entrance is from the road from Narmonka to Stolbishche.

The project also envisages a car park for the agrobiotech park’s workers. It will be located in front of the central entrance to the territory. A pedestrian zone will be created from the car park to the administration and laboratory building. A flowerbed will enliven the landscape, benches and trash bins will be placed.

Agrobiotech lab, storage area and greenhouse

Nearly 165 million is planned to be spent on the construction of the administration and laboratory building, storage and agricultural machinery repair shop, potato storehouse, crop storehouse, a warehouse for mineral fertilisers, greenhouse and a service unit.

The administration and laboratory building is divided into two: a hotel and the administration area with an agrobiotech lab. The hotel will have five rooms, each of which can accommodate up to four people. This part of the building will also have a lounge for guests and a buffet. Offices, conference halls, a first aid station, WC and the changing room will appear in the administration building.

It is planned to store, inspect and repair agricultural machinery in the one-storey storage and repair shop. The same project includes an area with separate changing rooms with showers where employees will prepare for work. One room is designed for storing machinery, two rooms are for maintenance and repair.

The project plans to make the potato and store storehouses one-storey. Each of them is designed for 1,000 tonnes of products. Before being stored, by the way, crops have to go through all cleansing and drying stages — they are outside the crop storehouse.

50 tonnes of fertilisers can be stored in the warehouse as a maximum. It is supposed that NPK, potash and ammonium nitrate will be located in separate segments. They will be stored in bags, 45-50 kg each.

The 576-square-metre greenhouse is created to plant vegetables. For this purpose, agrarians decided to resort to the method of low-volume hydroponics. There will be used mineral cotton substrate with drip irrigation and feeding. The service unit will have a solution unit to make mineral fertilisers, dispatch room to sort and pack greenhouse products. The workers of the agrobiotech park will rest and have lunch, change their clothes and prepare for work there.

Site to expand innovative technologies in agriculture

The project in Laishevo District started to be implemented as early as 2019 with the support of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov. Specialists of Kazan State Agrarian University do the works.

As the university’s Rector Ayrat Valiyev said in July 2020, the agrobiotech park should become a centre for practical training for students and specialists of the agro-industrial complex. It is created a site to develop, test and expand innovative technologies in agriculture.

In summer 2020, 30 field tests were done on 100 hectares of the agrobiotech park. Specialists selected and raised seeds of wheat, spelt, barley, sunflower, maize, rapeseed, soy beans, camelina, buckwheat and potato.

Tatiana Dyomina
Tatarstan