The State Duma adopted at a plenary session on January 27 in the first reading a bill improving legal regulation in the field of agricultural cooperation.
The document was developed as part of a federal project to create a support system for farmers and develop rural cooperation, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivan Lebedev.
The initiative reduces the minimum number of citizens for creating an agricultural consumer cooperative from 5 to 3, clarifies the activities of revision unions of agricultural cooperatives, and also simplifies internal corporate procedures. Also, the bill establishes the obligation of the board of the agricultural cooperative or the liquidation commission, in the event of signs of bankruptcy, to develop an action plan to restore the cooperative's solvency and send an application for declaring the cooperative bankrupt to the arbitration court.
“The document affects the interests of more than 11 thousand agricultural cooperatives, which employ over 446 thousand people,” the deputy minister said.
The head of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Vladimir Kashin, noted that the proposed measures reduce the administrative burden on agricultural cooperatives and will help them operate effectively and sustainably. “We will do everything further to develop agricultural cooperation, so that it can contribute to ensuring food security,” the parliamentarian said.