At a meeting of the Government of the Kaluga Region, which was chaired by Governor Vladislav Shapsha, the head of the regional Ministry of Agriculture, Leonid Gromov, submitted for consideration a draft state program "Effective involvement in the circulation of agricultural land and the development of a reclamation complex in the Kaluga Region."
Leonid Gromov reported that the return of agricultural land to circulation is among the priority areas of work of the relevant ministry. According to departmental monitoring, the share of arable land used from 2015 to 2021 increased from 46,3% (395,7 thousand hectares) to 66,2% (549 thousand hectares). The minister spoke about the effective mechanisms that are used for this.
Within the framework of municipal land control, about 1500 inspections are carried out annually on the use of abandoned arable land on areas up to 100 thousand hectares. According to their results, negligent owners are fined, and the land tax rate is increased for them from 0,3% to 1,5% of the cadastral value of the site. As a result, last year alone, a waiver of property rights to unused fields with a total area of over one thousand hectares was issued. In addition, in court, unclaimed land shares are transferred to municipal ownership for effective use.
Leonid Gromov noted that the adopted program will give an additional impetus to this important work. It is planned that by the end of 2030, only due to the state support measures provided for by the program, another 27 thousand hectares will be put into circulation.
In the next three years, almost 55 million rubles will be allocated to reimburse part of the costs of agrochemical and environmental-toxicological surveys, as well as to improve soil fertility and to carry out cultural and technical activities.