On January 31, Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev addressed the All-Russian Agronomic Conference.
“Agriculture remains one of the fastest growing sectors of the Russian economy. For the period 2014-2016, agricultural production grew by 11%, and by the end of 2017, growth amounted to about 3% ”, - said Alexander Tkachev.
The Minister noted the high achievements of the agricultural sector in obtaining record harvests. Last year, for the first time in history, 134 million tons of grain were harvested, and almost 86 million tons of wheat. The harvest of soybeans and rapeseed has grown at times. The production of greenhouse vegetables shows impressive growth rates - by 34% over the last two years. The State Program for the Development of Horticulture is being successfully implemented, within the framework of which 73 thousand hectares of orchards were laid in five years, the annual growth is about 15 thousand hectares.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia said that in order to maintain the momentum and further develop the industry, it is necessary to increase the effectiveness of measures to balance the market and develop infrastructure for farmers.
The government has launched a mechanism for subsidizing rail transportation of grain from the country's internal regions to export ports. And we are talking not only about the traditional ports of southern Russia, but also about the export gates of the Baltic and the Caspian, the Far East.
According to the minister, this mechanism has significantly changed the situation, especially in the context of export growth.
“Compared to last season, Russia delivered 36% more grain and 35% more wheat to foreign markets. According to the forecast of the International Grain Council, this season Russia will take first place in the world in the supply of wheat to foreign markets. ”, - said Alexander Tkachev.
The development of exports will maintain the marginality of agriculture in the conditions of saturation of the domestic market.
“According to the results of 2017, the share of profitable agricultural enterprises amounted to 87%. This is the highest figure in the last 6 years. ”, - noted Minister.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture touched upon one of the priority issues of the agricultural sector - increasing sown areas, returning unused lands to circulation. Last year, for the first time in 15 years, the entire cultivated area in Russia exceeded the bar of 80 million hectares, and in the forecasts for 2018, the development of another almost 200 thousand hectares of land.
For the further launch of land into circulation, the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a number of measures: an opportunity for novice farmers to get land on lease without holding tenders, an increase in the tax rate for unused land. A new project "effective hectare" is also being tested. Over the next 3 years, the scientific and expert community, together with the agribusiness in the pilot regions, will work out the principles and details of a new approach to the management of the agro-industrial complex, which allows avoiding infrastructural and economic "swings" and getting the maximum income per hectare.
Organic farming is closely related to the development of sown areas, to which the Minister of Agriculture paid special attention. The government supported and submitted to the State Duma the draft law "On the production of organic products" developed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, which will settle all issues related to organic farming. This will make it possible to return unused land to circulation, create conditions for the development of organic farming, increase its share in the world organic market up to 10-15% and gain additional sales markets.
Alexander Tkachev drew attention to the preparation of farmers for the sowing campaign. This year, the sown area should be 80,4 million hectares. It is expected that spring crops will be sown on an area of 53,4 million ha, sown areas for soybean, rapeseed, flax, barley and fodder crops will increase. The Minister called on agricultural enterprises to monitor the structure of crop rotation, applying a balanced approach to manufactured and processed products.
The Minister noted the need to expand the cultivated area for oilseeds: soybean and rapeseed. Available processing capacity allows to increase the production of rapeseed for processing by 2 - 3 times. Soy and rapeseed are in demand on the world market and can become a competitive and promising export position of Russia.
Focusing on the maximum margin niche in world markets, reorienting to obtaining maximum efficiency and profitability, as well as the intensive development of modern technologies require significant funds for technological re-equipment and modernization of the agricultural sector.
For these purposes, there are state support mechanisms, primarily concessional lending. This year, over 13 billion rubles have been allocated for this area.
Thanks to state support and concessional lending, the use of mineral fertilizers is noticeably growing (by 33% over the past 4 years). Subsidy support allows agricultural enterprises to expand and modernize their agricultural machinery fleet.
Alexander Tkachev noted that agriculture continues to develop dynamically, which allows us to give optimistic forecasts. For some of them, the agro-industrial complex of Russia may regain the status of a net exporter of food lost in 1955. Russia is already one of the five largest global investors in the agricultural sector and produces about one and a half times more food products per capita than the world average.
At the same time, the industry has huge untapped resources and potential for further development, increasing efficiency and competitiveness in the world market.
“Changing the structure of the industry, increasing the share of high-tech industries will further increase investment and increase agricultural production”, - said Alexander Tkachev.
The Director of the Department of Plant Growing, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection spoke about the results of the work of the plant growing industry in 2017 and the tasks for 2018. Peter Chekmarevkeynote speakers also made Anatoly Kutsenko, Valery Zhukov and many others.
Source: http://mcx.ru