ESTONIA: COUNTRY REPORT to the FAO INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE on PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES (Leipzig,1996)
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ESTONIA: COUNTRY REPORT TO THE FAO INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES (Leipzig,1996) Prepared by: K. Kask I. Etverk Tallinn, May 1995 ESTONIA country report 2 Note by FAO This Country Report has been prepared by the national authorities in the context of the preparatory process for the FAO International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, Leipzig, Germany, 17-23 June 1996. The Report is being made available by FAO as requested by the International Technical Conference. However, the report is solely the responsibility of the national authorities. The information in this report has not been verified by FAO, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of the material and maps in this document do not imply the expression of any option whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ESTONIA country report 3 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO ESTONIA AND ITS AGRICULTURAL SECTOR 4 1.1 CLIMATE AND SOILS 4 1.2 FOREST TREES 5 1.3 RECENT TRENDS 6 CHAPTER 2 INDIGENOUS PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 7 2.1 LANDRACES 8 CHAPTER 3 CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES 9 3.1 EX SITU COLLECTIONS 9 3.2 REGENERATION 12 CHAPTER 4 IN-COUNTRY USE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 13 CHAPTER 5 NATIONAL GOALS, POLICIES PROGRAMMES AND LEGISLATION 15 CHAPTER 6 INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 17 CHAPTER 7 NATIONAL NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES 19 ANNEX 1 THE ESTONIAN FOREST GENETIC RESOURCES 20 INTRODUCTION TO THE ESTONIAN FOREST SECTOR 20 INDIGENOUS PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 21 NATIONAL CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES 23 IN-COUNTRY USE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 25 ESTONIA country report 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Estonia and its Agricultural Sector The Republic of Estonia is one of the Baltic countries in the northern part of Europe. In the North Estonia is bounded by the Gulf of Finland and in the West by the Gulf of Riga. The Russian Federation in the East, the Republic of Latvia in the South and the Republic of Finland in the North (less than 90 km from the northern coast) are the three closest neighbours of Estonia. It extends from 57° 30' N to 59° 40' N and from 21° to 28° 15' E. The area of Estonia is a little larger than that of Denmark and equals to 45,200 square kilometres. 9.2% of the territory is under islands and 6.1% is taken up by inland water bodies. The country is largely a plain, which is on average only 50 m above sea-level; only 1/10 of the territory is above 100 m. Estonia (January 1, 1994) has a population of 1.5 million. 70.3% live in urban and 29.7% in rural areas. The average population density is 33.3 habitants per square kilometre. Estonia was an independent republic from 1918 to 1940. In 1940 it was occupied by the Soviet Union and Estonia became one of the 15 union republics of the Soviet Union. The democratic movement started at the end of the 1980s. The independent Republic of Estonia was reestablished on the 21st of August, 1991 (the official name since the 8th of May, 1990). 1.1 CLIMATE AND SOILS In Estonia the average annual air temperature is 5°C. The air temperature in summer is somewhat lower than the average for the latitude, but considerably higher in winter. Nevertheless, the lowest air temperature recorded in Estonia is -43.5°C and it was registered on the night of January 16th to 17th, 1940. Severe winters (-30°C to -40°C) occur one or two times in 10 years. Thaws are characteristic of winter, but there can also be very stable cold spells, for example in some winters the air temperature (in inland) does not rise above 0°C during 90 or 100 days. The vegetation period generally lasts for 170-185 days, the period of active plant growth is 120-130 days. The annual amount of precipitation (550-650 mm) exceeds evaporation approximately twofold. ESTONIA country report 5 Nevertheless, there may be especially severe draughty periods in the western part of Estonia in spring and in the first half of summer. The principal soils are soddy calcareous soils (26.3% of all arable lands) and soddy clay soils (32.3%). Soils influenced by erosion make up 18.9%. Bog soils constitute 7.7%. The major part of agricultural land needs reclamation, primarily drainage: 63% of the soils are excessively wet. 44% of the soils are acid. One third of the total area of Estonia is arable land, one fourth is under cultivated meadows, pastures and other lands. 35%. of the area is under forest. Main crops grown are barley, rye, wheat, oats, legumes, vegetables, potato, field grasses, annual fodder crops. The need of the country is to be entirely supplied from the local production. Higher quality wheat is needed for pasta (macaroni) products and white bread. 3/4 of the field production is used to feed livestock. Estonia does not produce any following minor crops of local diet: buckwheat, maize, millet and rice. Fields and grasslands are sown with selected seed, chiefly with those bred at the (Estonian) Jýgeva Plant Breeding Institute. Fruit is mostly grown in small backyard gardens and fruit growing supplies 3040 kg per capita consumption. 1.2 FOREST TREES Coniferous trees are predominant (about 64%). The species composition is as follows: pine (Pinus sylvestris) 41%, birch (Betula pendula and Betula pubescens) 28%, spruce (Picea abies) 23%, speckled alder (Alnus incana) 4%, aspen (Populus tremula) 2% black alder (Alnus glutinosa) 1.5%, oak, ash and others 0.9%. In 1979 the percentage of forest stands on the Estonian territory rose to 38.7 as compared with 29% in 1958, and decreased to 35% in 1994. In 1993 10.3% of the inhabitants were active in the agricultural sector, hunting and forestry. 37.7% of the workers were active in food processing industry. ESTONIA country report 6 1.3 RECENT TRENDS The former (Soviet time) resource-constrained and centrally planned economy has been turned into demand-driven and market oriented economy. In the past years the economy was mostly based upon the cheap resources from the former Soviet Union and mostly supplied the Soviet markets. Now it is directed to western markets and broad participation in the world economy. The state ownership that dominated a few years ago has been substituted by private ownership. Agricultural production has declined. For example 967,00 tons of grain was produced in 1989, in 1992 the production was only 399,00 tons. In 1993 the potato production declined from 864,00 tons to 539,00 tons. The decline in the Estonian agriculture is due to the failure of the Russian markets. Some relief may be gained from the Free Trade Agreement with the EU. The restitution of property rights on land tends to produce a great number of small private farms. The use of mineral fertilizers and chemicals for controlling pests and weeds has declined dramatically because of low farm income and the rising prices of these chemicals. In 1992 the average yields per hectare dropped because of draught and, in the following years, due to the shortage of chemicals. It will take years to restore efficient and highly competitive private farming, Local cultivars are less affected from pest and disease attacks and better adapted to the shortened use of mineral fertilizers and unfavourable winter conditions than foreign ones. ESTONIA country report 7 CHAPTER 2 Indigenous Plant Genetic Resources There is a unique genetic diversity of economically important qualities in the wild of Estonia that has never been utilized in the development or improvement of the cultivated varieties. There are some wild progenitors or wild relatives of current or potentially important commercial agricultural (including pasture) plants among the natural vegetation of Estonia. They are still available in the wild and are not threatened by human activity. These species are the following: Gramineae From genus Agrostis - A. canina, A. gigantea, A. stolonifera A. tenuis, A vinealis Festuca - F. arundinacea, F. gigantea, F. pratensts, F. rubra Koelena - K. glauca, K. grandis Phleum - P. beriolonii, P. phleoides, P. pretense Poa pratensis Papilionaceae Lotus - L. corniculatus Medicago - M.falcata, M. lupulina They have outstanding winter hardiness and are adapted to different soil conditions, e.g. to superfluous soil moisture (Agrostis sp.), alkaline or acid soils, strong draught (Medicago sp.). Some above-mentioned species have been used in the Estonian breeding programmes during the last decades. There is a cranberry species (Vaccinium oxycoccus) in the Estonian bogs. It has become adapted to the climate of Estonia and is already used in cultivar breeding, Some bogs have been demolished entirely but 760 samples of the Estonian cranberry have been planted into a collection at the Nigula Nature Reserve. ESTONIA country report 8 2.1 LANDRACES There have been many "farmers' varieties" in Estonia but only a few are still maintained and very few are used by farmers at the present time. In the 1950ies and 1960ies many farmers' varieties and old (bred 70 years ago) cultivars of the Estonian breeding programmes have for conservation purposes been given into the collections (elementary gene bank) of the N. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (St. Petersburg, Russia). Lately, the situation in Russia has changed so dramatically that the possibility to save the cultivars is getting threatened. Fortunately, Estonia got the germplasm (seeds of old varieties) back from Russia (in 1994).