Belarusian scientists devise machine capable of planting up to 25 hectares of potatoes in single shift

Belarus has developed the first six-row potato planter in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), capable of planting up to 25 hectares of potatoes in a single shift. The new machine was created by specialists at the experimental plant of the Scientific and Practical Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. This was reported by The First News Channel (Belteleradiocompany), a partner of TV BRICS.

The potato planter, assembled from domestically produced components, can be adapted to any soil type.

"It can plant up to 25 hectares per shift. Previously, four-row planters achieved a productivity of up to 10–12 hectares per shift. The most important requirement put forward by modern farmers is high speed," said Aleksander Bliznyuk, director of the experimental plant at the Scientific and Practical Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The developers note that mechanisation covers the entire crop processing process. After harvesting, the potatoes are cleaned using specialised equipment: stone separators, sorting lines and automatic impurity removal systems. The final stage is a computerised weighing station, where each tuber undergoes digital inspection.

Another innovation from Belarusian engineers is an autonomous container filler. The machine is capable of loading up to one and a half tonnes of produce into a single container.