(MINSELKHOZ – the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation)
In the Russian AIC, farmers produce 14% of foodstuff. And there is a window for further growth: from craft foods to traditional grain production. The State promises to support new projects and facilitate development of the existing ones.
It was not a very good year for farmers. There were problems with product sales because of coronavirus, as Oksana Lut, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, admitted. In many regions, fairs and markets were closing, which are the main sales channel for farm products. Meantime, farmers managed to successfully organize on-line trade in large cities. And this channel would spread all over the country as the transport accessibility develops, she is confident.
Ms. Lut believes that, possibly, by results of the year, a share of the farm production in the total volume of AIC products would decrease a bit. However, already starting from the next year, MINSELKHOZ expects a growth. “All state support measures are aimed at this,” the Deputy Minister assured.
Each year, SME (Small and Medium Entrepreneurship) and farmers receive about RUB 90 bln of the state support. “This is a rather large amount; some 40% of all state support measures goes to SME. We assume that this amount will preserve,” Ms. Lut specified.
According to the data provided by President of Association of Farmers' Households and Russian Agricultural Cooperatives (AKKOR) Vladimir Plotnikov, in the recent 10 years, the cultivated areas of farmer’s households have grown by nearly 1 mln hectares annually. With regard to grain, a share of farmers is 29.5%; in terms of sunflower seeds it is 35%. According to Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosselkhzbank Boris Listov, in 1992 the farmers’ contribution to generation of agriculture products was only 1%, while by results of the past year it amounted up to 14%. Rosselkhozbank projects that in the coming five years this indicator will grow up to 18% - 20%. Mr. Listov believes that farmers are able to cope with economic and social tasks on equal terms with agricultural holdings.
Chairman of Agrarian Committee of the State Duma Vladimir Kashin believes that farmer’s households have large reserves of growth in many areas: from production of honey up to poultry meat and beef. Without farmers it is not possible to solve the global task of involvement of abandoned lands in agriculture. At the present time, there are about 40 mln hectares of such lands in Russia. Mr. Kashin estimates that another 100 mln tons of crops can be grown there.
Also, the business program of the International Agriculture Exhibition AgroFarm-2021 will pay much attention to issues of the domestic farmer’s household development.
What do newcomer farmers need to know to start their businesses from the scratch? How to raise profitability of you firm? What financial and non-financial instruments of the sector’s support are most effective? How to preserve livestock health and raise their productivity?
You will know answers to these and many other questions if you participate in AgroFarm-2021, which will be held on March 3-5, 2021. We will be pleased to see you at the Country’s Leading Exhibition!
Source: RG.RU