On April 13, a delegation from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture headed by First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dzhambulat Khatuov took part in the work of the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum "Russia 2018-2024: Realizing the Potential".
As part of the forum’s business program, the session “Key Directions of Investment Policy in the Agricultural Field: How to Ensure Sustainable Agricultural Sector Growth” was held, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. Representatives of regional agro-industrial complex management bodies of the Siberian Federal District, industry, banking and business communities, heads of agricultural organizations and many others took part in it.
Dzhambulat Khatuov said that the development of the domestic agro-industrial complex is not only a guarantor of the country's food security, but also opens up broad prospects for entering the world market of agricultural products and food. He noted the high quality of Siberian grain. He stressed that about 80% of the grain supplied to the milling enterprises of St. Petersburg is grown in Siberia. The growth in grain production in the regions of Siberia should be synchronized with an increase in domestic consumption and an increase in livestock production ... The mechanisms of state support for farmers are being improved, citing the development of logistics and subsidizing railroad transportation as an illustrative example. Thanks to this, it was possible to send surplus grain from Siberia to other regions of the country, which had a positive effect on the dynamics of domestic grain prices.
Dzhambulat Khatuov emphasized the importance of the development of deep grain processing industries in Siberia, which will allow receiving additional income from the sale of agricultural products with high added value. Such products have a high export potential, especially taking into account the growing consumption in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region every year. That is why the farmers of Siberia need to pay close attention to the eastern direction in their export supplies.
Dzhambulat Khatuov also noted the importance of developing rural areas, which is one of the priority areas of work of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. The task of effectively supporting small businesses and developing rural areas was set by the Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev and supported by the country's leadership.
The First Deputy Minister pointed out that serious support from the state made the domestic agro-industrial complex one of the most attractive areas for investors.
“The investment attractiveness of agriculture is growing every year. The volume of investments in the fixed capital of the agro-industrial complex, according to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, last year alone, in 2017, amounted to 635,8 billion rubles, ”said Dzhambulat Khatuov. Last year, a record 76,3 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to stimulate investment activity in the agro-industrial complex. Dzhambulat Khatuov said that the state actively supports the development of investment activities by adapting state support measures to the changing conditions of project implementation. One of them is the implementation of a mechanism for concessional lending to farmers at a rate of no more than 5%.
"In 2018, 28,8 billion rubles are provided to support preferential investment lending, or 12 times more than was allocated in 2017," the first deputy minister said.
According to Dzhambulat Khatuov, the introduction of concessional lending allowed agricultural producers not to divert working capital to service loans.
“As a result, we got a real credit boom: last year, banks signed almost 8 thousand loan agreements with borrowers for 650 billion rubles, including for investment loans for almost 460 billion rubles, which is 3 times more than in 2016”, - said Dzhambulat Khatuov.
Anatoly Kutsenko, Director of the Department of Economics, Investments and Market Regulation of the Agro-Industrial Complex, noted that the import-substituting sectors of the agro-industrial complex and export directions remain the most attractive for investments, since in the future they will become a driver for the entire industry.
“Investors are most interested in greenhouse vegetable growing and dairy farming. Last year, 37% of all attracted credit resources were directed to these areas, ”Anatoly Kutsenko said.
Anatoly Kutsenko named the leaders in attracting investment loans Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk and Penza regions, as well as Krasnodar, Stavropol and Primorsky Territories.
The director of the sectoral department said that this year it is expected to attract funds for the development of crop production - 103 billion rubles, livestock - 249 billion rubles, including dairy cattle breeding - 102 billion rubles and the purchase of equipment - 84 billion rubles.
The meeting participants also noted that the increase in agricultural production provided the conditions for the active development of exports. Last year, agricultural products worth $ 20 billion were exported.
Actively growing export of sugar, pork, poultry. Finished meat products increased 2 times, pet food 5 times. The confectionery industry also has significant potential.
Based on: http://mcx.ru