The profile committee of the Federation Council is ready to cooperate with federal and regional executive authorities to solve the problem of increasing the share of seeds of domestic selection in the volume of sown crops - potatoes, sugar beets, corn, vegetables, including the preparation of legislative decisions. This was stated by the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management Sergey Mitin, reports official website of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
The senator held a meeting on the implementation of the recommendations of the expanded meeting of the Committee on the issue "On the results of the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017-2025."
“In accordance with the instruction of the Chairman of the Federation Council to consider the results of the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture (FSTP) and prepare proposals for its improvement, our Federation Council Committee is carrying out relevant work. The senators are also instructed to report to the Federation Council on the implementation of this order once every six months,” the senator noted.
Sergey Mitin informed that on February 1 this year, an expanded meeting of the Federation Council Committee on the issue “On the results of the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017-2025” was held with the participation of the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and a wide range of representatives of federal executive authorities, branch scientific organizations, unions and associations, enterprises.
This made it possible to prepare substantiated proposals for improving the FSTP, which were formulated in the form of recommendations to the Government of the Russian Federation, federal and regional executive authorities. They were approved by the decision of the Committee and officially sent to the addressees, he specified.
“Today we need to review the implementation of these recommendations and prepare proposals for improving the effectiveness of this work aimed at fulfilling the tasks of the FSTP and the Food Security Doctrine. At the same time, it is important to develop new approaches to ensure the accelerated development of breeding and seed production in the face of growing sanctions,” the parliamentarian emphasized.
According to Sergei Mitin, based on the materials submitted by the federal executive authorities, it is clear that the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation have already done a lot of work, but some of the recommendations are still under development or implementation.
The senator considers it important that serious attention is paid to this area in the Government, this is confirmed by the fact that a specialized Department of selection and seed production has been created in the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, and a number of scientific organizations in the field of selection and seed production have been transferred to the Ministry.
“The results of the implementation of the FSTP should have a positive impact on the increase in the use of domestic seeds by agricultural producers, especially in the current conditions of external sanctions pressure. This applies, among other things, to providing the domestic agro-industrial complex with seeds for the sowing season of 2023 and subsequent years, ”the parliamentarian explained.
At the same time, he noted that thanks to the efforts of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, it was possible to provide seeds in the required volume for the sowing season of 2022, however, for a number of crops, these seeds are largely of foreign selection and imported into the country.
During the meeting, emphasis was placed on information on the situation with the share of seeds of domestic selection in the volume of sown and imported seeds in 2022 and the forecast for 2023. The participants also considered the issue of the advisability of amending the Federal Law “On Seed Production”, the implementation of the provisions of which should have a significant impact on the development of domestic seed production and selection.
The event was attended by senators of the Russian Federation Olga Epifanova, Alexei Kondratenko, Alexander Narolin, Viktor Novozhilov, Director of the Department of Science and Technology Policy and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Nina Ivanova, Director of the Department of Coordination of Organizations in the Field of Agricultural Sciences of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation Vugar Bagirov , Director of the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing Alexei Soldatenko, representatives of scientific centers, educational organizations.